"Enormous Emissions Gap Between Top 1% And Poorest, Study Highlights"

"‘Polluting elite’ responsible for same amount of carbon dioxide in a year as poorest 10% are in more than two decades, data shows".

"The top 1% of earners in the UK are responsible for the same amount of carbon dioxide emissions in a single year as the bottom 10% over more than two decades, new data has shown.

The findings highlight the enormous gaps between what have been termed “the polluting elite”, whose high-carbon lifestyles fuel the climate crisis, and the majority of people, even in developed countries, whose carbon footprints are far smaller.

It would take 26 years for a low earner to produce as much carbon dioxide as the richest do in a year, according to Autonomy’s analysis of income and greenhouse gas data from 1998 to 2018, which found that people earning £170,000 or more in 2018 in the UK were responsible for greenhouse gas emissions far greater than the 30% of people earning £21,500 or less in the same year."

Fiona Harvey reports for the Guardian November 1, 2022.

Source: Guardian, 11/02/2022