World's richest 1 per cent will emit too much to limit global warming to 1.5 C: study
CTV
The carbon footprints of the world’s richest one per cent are expected to be 30 times higher than the level needed to limit global warming to the 1.5 C target set out in the Paris Agreement in 2030, according to a new study.
That’s according to a new study commissioned by Oxfam and based on research carried out by the Stockholm Environment Institute and the Institute for European Environmental Policy.
The researchers sought to estimate how governments’ pledges will affect the carbon footprints of richer and poorer people around the world. To do this, they treated the global population and income groups as if they were a single country.
They found that the richest one per cent and the richest 10 per cent of the population are on track to emit 30 times and nine times, respectively, more carbon dioxide than the level compatible with the 1.5 C goal.
To put this statistic into perspective, someone in the richest one per cent of the population would need to reduce their emissions by approximately 97 per cent compared with today in order to meet the required level.
