The super-rich's assets are causing a disproportionate amount of climate harm, according to a study. This is not just due to their lavish lifestyles, but also their ownership of companies and private financial and physical assets. The top 1% of people by wealth, through their shareholdings and investments, control about a quarter of global annual emissions. Greenpeace has calculated the "climate debt" of these high net worth individuals, attributing their share of the damage done to the climate by the assets they own. This reckoning shows that the world's richest cause nearly $1 trillion a year of damage to the climate. Clara Thompson, the global lead campaigner on socioeconomic systems at Greenpeace International, highlights the injustice of ordinary households bearing the brunt of the burden while the wealthiest continue to profit from the industries driving the crisis. The top 1% by wealth are responsible for about 40% of all "ownership"-based emissions, which make up 60% of global carbon output. The top 0.1% and 0.01% account for even higher percentages of ownership-based emissions. In contrast, the bottom half of the world by wealth accounts for just 3% of ownership-based emissions. Thompson emphasizes the importance of focusing on ownership-based emissions, as they are harder to address and less visible than emissions associated with consumption. A large share of emissions is associated with the ownership of carbon-intensive assets and investments. Climate policy has traditionally focused on consumers, but this study suggests a shift towards addressing ownership and investments. One potential solution is wealth taxes, as those who contributed most to the problem should contribute more to fixing it. However, big banks and other financial investors poured $900 billion into fossil fuels last year, despite promises made five years ago to curb such investments. The widening gap between the impact of the super-rich on the planet and that of ordinary people is a growing concern, as wealth inequality soars. The economist Thomas Piketty's recent report suggests that the world could live equitably within the planet's finite resources if excess wealth were curbed by taxes and the poor allowed to keep a larger share of their labor's produce. As governments gather for climate talks in Bonn, Germany, the focus on a "just transition" to help workers affected by the shift away from fossil fuels to a low-carbon economy is expected to be a key topic. This highlights the need for a more equitable distribution of responsibility and resources in addressing the climate crisis.
