Between 1990 and 2015, humanity more than doubled the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere; emissions increased by 60%. During the same period, much of the Earth’s carbon budget – the limit of total greenhouse gas emissions humankind may produce before catastrophic temperature rises are unavoidable – was depleted.
Nearly one-third of the consumption is in the hands of just 1% of the population, 63 million people from wealthy nations. They are responsible for over twice as much carbon pollution as the poorest half of the population (3.1 billion people). Unfortunately, the poor and developing nations are the ones that will suffer the full spectrum of natural disasters and displacements.
The research, conducted for Oxfam by the Stockholm Environment Institute, highlights an ever-widening “carbon inequality.”
Tim Gore, lead author of the report and Head of Climate Policy, Advocacy, and Research at Oxfam, said:
The over-consumption of a wealthy minority is fueling the climate crisis, yet it is poor communities and young people who are paying the price. Such extreme carbon inequality is a direct consequence of our government’s decades-long pursuit of grossly unequal and carbon-intensive economic growth.
It’s not just that extreme economic inequality is divisive in our societies, it’s not just that it slows the rate of poverty reduction. But there is also a third cost: it depletes the carbon budget solely for the already affluent growing their consumption. And that, of course, has the worse impacts on the poorest and least responsible.
Despite a sharp decrease in emissions because of the coronavirus pandemic, the world has not veered off course from warming several degrees this century. And despite the 2015 Paris climate deal committing nations to limit global temperature rise to below two degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels, emissions continue to rise.
Gore said:
It’s clear that the carbon-intensive and highly unequal model of economic growth over the last 20-30 years has not benefited the poorest half of humanity. It’s a false dichotomy to suggest that we have to choose between economic growth and (fixing) the climate crisis.
Environmental activist Hindou Oumarou Ibrahim, the president of the Association for Indigenous Women and Peoples of Chad, agrees with the report stating that climate change couldn’t be tackled without prioritizing economic equality. Ibrahim said:
My indigenous peoples have long borne the brunt of environmental destruction. Now is the time to listen, to integrate our knowledge, and to priorities saving nature to save ourselves.
So far, the Earth has only warmed 1 degree Celsius. Yet, countries worldwide are battling more intense and frequent droughts, wildfires, and superstorms made more potent by rising sea levels. Imagine the catastrophe of Earth warming more.
Now is the time to push climate change and inequality by putting the issues at the heart of any COVID-19 recovery plan. Emissions are likely to rebound as lockdowns ease. If this is allowed to happen and emissions continue to rise, the carbon budget for 1.5°C will be depleted by 2030.
