Report: World’s richest 1% emit enough carbon to cause heat-related deaths for 1.3 million people

The “polluting elite” are disproportionately driving climate change, according to a new report – with the world’s richest 1% of people producing as much carbon pollution as the poorest two-thirds.

the a reportThe Guardian, the international charity Oxfam and the Stockholm Environment Institute found that climate change and “extreme inequality” have become “intertwined, integrated and driving each other.”

The researchers found that among all… Carbon emissions In the world in 2019, 16% was produced by the richest 1% of people worldwide – a group that includes billionaires, millionaires and those who earn more than $140,000 a year. The analysis found that their contribution is “equal to the same emissions as the poorest 66% of humanity” – roughly 5 billion people.

The report also found that the richest 10% of people worldwide contributed nearly half of emissions that year.

“It will take approx 1500 years “Someone in the bottom 99% of the population should produce the same amount of carbon as the richest billionaires in one year,” said Chiara Liguori, senior climate justice policy advisor at Oxfam. “This is fundamentally unfair.”

The amount of carbon dioxide emissions reported by the top 1% of producers in 2019 — 5.9 billion tons — is enough to alter global temperatures enough to cause the deaths of an estimated 1.3 million people, the report says, citing a report. The methodology is widely used Known as the “carbon mortality cost”.

The report also highlighted just that 12 of the world’s richest billionaires They contributed nearly 17 million tons of emissions from their homes, transportation, yachts and investments — an amount he said is more than 4 1/2 coal-fired power plants over the course of a year.

At the top of that list Carlos Slim Helou, whose net worth according to Forbes is $94.7 billion. He was followed by Bill Gates, Jeff Bezos, Google founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin, and the luxury retail mogul. Bernard Arnault.

Earth “under siege”

William Ripple, a professor of ecology at Oregon State University who is also director of the Alliance of World Scientists, told CBS News that the report’s methodology and findings are “largely consistent with some of the recent peer-reviewed scientific literature on this topic.”

“Carbon inequality and climate justice are two major issues,” he said. “To tackle climate change, we will need to significantly reduce inequality and provide climate support and compensation to less affluent regions.”

Last month, Ripple and a team of other scientists published a paper that found this Earth “under siege” And “in uncharted territory.” They found several all-time record highs related to climate change that “raise profound concern about patterns of climate-related disasters.” They also found that efforts to address these issues have made “minimal progress.”

The Guardian and Oxfam report called for a number of steps to help humanity “break free from the climate and inequality trap”, including a transition to renewable energy sources. He also proposed imposing a 60% tax on the income of the richest 1% in the world, which, according to the report’s estimates, could lead to a reduction in global emissions by 700 million tons.

UN report shows dangerous ’emission valley’

The Climate Wealth Gap report was released on the same day that the United Nations released a report titled “The Climate Wealth Gap.”A new report of its own On the cost of climate adaptation. The UNEP found that despite “clear signs” of increasing risks from climate change, countries are falling further behind in the investments needed to respond.

The UN report found that the “adaptation financing gap” ranges between $194 billion and $366 billion annually, saying there is a need to increase financial investment by at least 50%, and noting that developing countries have “much higher” costs and needs than others.

Emissions of greenhouse gases – which trap heat in the atmosphere and cause temperatures to rise – have contributed to their occurrence more 1.2% since last year, reaching record levels.

UN Secretary-General António Guterres told reporters on Monday that “if nothing changes, emissions in 2030 will be 22 gigatonnes above the 1.5 degree limit” – referring to the goal of limiting temperature rise to 1.5 degrees Celsius higher. From pre-industrial times. The world is expected to exceed this level During the next five years.

“All of this is a failure of leadership, a betrayal of the weak, and a huge missed opportunity,” Guterres said. “Renewables have never been cheaper or more accessible.” “…The report shows that the emissions gap is like an emissions valley – a valley full of broken promises, broken lives, and broken records.”

CBS News correspondent Pamela Falk contributed to this report.