this post was submitted on 07 May 2025
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Paper in Nature Climate Change journal reveals major role wealthy emitters play in driving climate extremes

The world’s wealthiest 10% are responsible for two-thirds of global heating since 1990, driving droughts and heatwaves in the poorest parts of the world, according to a study.

While researchers have previously shown that higher income groups emit disproportionately large amounts of greenhouse gases, the latest survey is the first to try to pin down how that inequality translates into responsibility for climate breakdown. It offers a powerful argument for climate finance and wealth taxes by attempting to give an evidential basis for how many people in the developed world – including more than 50% of full-time employees in the UK – bear a heightened responsibility for the climate disasters affecting people who can least afford it.

“Our study shows that extreme climate impacts are not just the result of abstract global emissions; instead we can directly link them to our lifestyle and investment choices, which in turn are linked to wealth,” said Sarah Schöngart, a climate modelling analyst and the study’s lead author.

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[–] BaldManGoomba@lemmy.world 37 points 23 hours ago (2 children)

Context and after some searching

  • Global Top 10% Wealth: ~$93,170 (2018)).

  • Global Top 10% Income: ~$39,382 annually (PPP-adjusted).

Wealth source

https://www.cnbc.com/2018/11/07/how-much-money-you-need-to-be-in-the-richest-10-percent-worldwide.html

Income source

https://wid.world/income-comparator/

[–] EddoWagt@feddit.nl 1 points 15 hours ago* (last edited 15 hours ago)

https://wid.world/income-comparator/

How the hell am I in the bottom 46% with an annual income of €38000?

Edit: I see, I think this is more about purchasing power than income, selecting some random 3rd world country would out me way higher

[–] piranhaconda@mander.xyz 3 points 21 hours ago

I immediately started searching this up on seeing the article. Should've known someone in the comments already beat me to it. Thanks for the links!

[–] Witchfire@lemmy.world 4 points 16 hours ago

Wealth is the great filter

[–] seeigel@feddit.org 29 points 23 hours ago

Can we do top 1% so that I don't feel included?

[–] arakhis_@feddit.org 4 points 18 hours ago

Two-thirds of global heating caused by us here, study suggests (shocker)

[–] ChickenLadyLovesLife@lemmy.world 36 points 1 day ago (2 children)

Nice to see the phrase "global heating" instead of the wimpy "global warming" or the even more milquetoasty "climate change". I prefer the phrase "anthropogenic runaway global heating" because it makes clear the scale and severity of the problem as well as its origin, and also for the handy acronym.

[–] postmateDumbass@lemmy.world 1 points 15 hours ago

Some of the poor people need heat. They get cold at night.

[–] benjaminb@discuss.tchncs.de 5 points 22 hours ago (1 children)

I sometimes call it "planet destruction" or "stupidity of mankind"

Yeah, but those phrases can apply to a whole lot of things.

[–] JLock17@lemmy.world 55 points 1 day ago (4 children)

If you're reading this, you're in that 10%.

[–] Knock_Knock_Lemmy_In@lemmy.world 11 points 23 hours ago (2 children)

Global top 10%' or 'access to wealth'

  • You are 18-25, your net financial wealth is $50,000 or more.

  • You are 25-29, your net financial wealth is $100,000 or more.

  • You are 30-35, your net financial wealth is $200,000 or more.

[–] ripcord@lemmy.world 2 points 19 hours ago

...there is no over 35.

Logan's Run style.

[–] Sixtyforce@sh.itjust.works 3 points 22 hours ago

Even without behavioral changes, nothing I can do with 120k a year will ever surpass somebody having a baby.

[–] nuko147@lemm.ee 28 points 1 day ago (3 children)

I want to know what part of the two-thirds, the 1% holds.

[–] hark@lemmy.world 2 points 16 hours ago

Plus things like planned obsolescence they push for to keep people spending. The system is formed around their whims and the system they want demands waste to continue the flow of money.

[–] JLock17@lemmy.world 30 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (1 children)

Undeniably a majority. We can't ignore the fact that we have impact on climate too. Big interest want us to argue over blame rather than try to fix the problem (Them). That said, I don't commute by aircraft daily like Taylor Swift and every other rich person.

[–] Buffalox@lemmy.world 7 points 1 day ago (1 children)

I don’t commute by aircraft daily like Taylor Swift and every other rich person.

That shit shouldn't be legal. In short private jets shouldn't be legal IMO.

[–] JLock17@lemmy.world 5 points 23 hours ago

Yeah, but if they didn't they might actually have to interact with the poors, and they can't have that.

[–] Buffalox@lemmy.world 3 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

Probably about or more than half of that. At least that's what I seem to recall having read.

[–] kameecoding@lemmy.world 16 points 1 day ago (2 children)

Hmm, I am probably not, 10% is what, 700 million?

Between all the rich people, USA, Canadians, UK, Germany, and the rest pf Western Europe that number likely includes enough people to exclude me as a central European

[–] JLock17@lemmy.world 15 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (1 children)

The last number I was given was that anyone who makes more than a converted $20,000 per year is in the global top 10%. There used to be a global income comparison tool that showed where you stand on the global scale. I feel 90% confident that any individual person reading this is someone who is above that line, especially if they can afford things like internet and electric together. Those kinds of guys are driving cars to work and eating out, instead of making their food every single day and listening to radio because they can't afford any luxuries.

I agree that it ain't exactly smart to say everyone in a developed economy is doing well, but I want to remind anyone reading this to count their blessings and consider their own impact just as much as they try to hold the worst offenders accountable.

[–] kameecoding@lemmy.world 6 points 23 hours ago* (last edited 23 hours ago) (1 children)

Copied from reddit comment

According to https://wid.world/world/#tptinc_p90p100_z/US;FR;DE;CN;ZA;GB;WO/last/us/k/x/yearly/t/false/0/200000/curve/false/country , the global 90th percentile income threshold in 2023 is at about $46,7k USD, market xchg rate.

So yeah, it's quite a bit higher than that, plus I think you vastly underestimate how expensive it is to have your own internet connection and electricity.

And I also make my food everyday that's quite normal for almost everyone but US citizens

[–] JLock17@lemmy.world 3 points 23 hours ago

Making your own food is normal for a lot of people here too, but I know a ton of people who just eat garbage all the time. My grandmother just eats all the time. She will just sit down and eat an entire pan of fried potatoes back to back, and my dad and stepmom just eat fast food every day. I had a nightmare where I was forced to watch my family eat junk off a table and then they got taken away once they got so fat to be butchered. I've been getting sick lately thinking about it, and my room mate keeps nagging me to eat way too much. I hate how fat I've gotten.

[–] Kecessa@sh.itjust.works 6 points 1 day ago (2 children)

Globally 10% is people worth about 100k USD, which is under the US median for people over 35.

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[–] answersplease77@lemmy.world 2 points 20 hours ago* (last edited 11 hours ago)

not true. $48k a year according to the comments below

[–] Voyajer@lemmy.world 114 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (9 children)

The threshold to be in the top 10% is €42,980 or $49,000 (grossing from what I can tell).

The top 1% and 0.1% for comparison are 20x and 76x.

[–] PlzGivHugs@sh.itjust.works 7 points 23 hours ago* (last edited 23 hours ago)

According to Wikipedia, citing the 2022 US census, median annual personal income is $48k, meaning the average american is right on that line.

[–] tamiya_tt02@lemmy.world 25 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (1 children)
[–] LwL@lemmy.world 80 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (2 children)

Yeah, what people forget is that even average americans (and central/northern europeans and some other plaves) are quite wealthy from a global perspective. Many people on lemmy, self included, are in that global 10%.

And many of those emissions aren't something you can just avoid either, they often come as a result of being a user of local infrastructure etc.

[–] grue@lemmy.world 28 points 1 day ago (1 children)

And half the time they get mad when you point it out.

[–] sensiblepuffin@lemmy.funami.tech 11 points 1 day ago (1 children)

In fairness, what are they going to do about being born into a richer slice of the world pie? As shitty as it is, people won't have much sympathy for those doing worse than them unless they've achieved a certain baseline. If they can't conceive of how life could be worse (many issues in this fragment), they won't accept or care that others are suffering.

[–] grue@lemmy.world 17 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (1 children)

At the very least, us 10%ers could be advocating for things that lower the carbon cost of our lifestyle, such as zoning reform.

Note that I'm not talking about reducing the quality of our lifestyle. I'm talking about maintaining or improving the quality while making it more efficient.

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[–] Saleh@feddit.org 15 points 1 day ago

If my taxes would go towards make that infrastructure sustainable, i would happily pay more taxes. As it stands my taxes mostly go to more Autobahn, upkeep of parking spots, subsidies for desastrous industries and cross-financing the retirement insurance, so the boomers can go on cruise vacations.

[–] NocturnalEngineer@lemmy.world 20 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (1 children)

Is there a source for this?

This was my assumption, but when I searched earlier, I could only find sources citing the top 12% was above $100k

Wiki - Distribution of Wealth

I'm assuming I've misunderstood something.

[–] homoludens@feddit.org 16 points 1 day ago

The article talks about income (the headline seems a bit confusing), the wiki about net worth?

[–] Noodle07@lemmy.world 6 points 1 day ago

10k€ here, reporting for wealth !

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[–] Tronn4@lemmy.world 12 points 1 day ago

But have YOU been to space?

[–] toastmeister@lemmy.ca 4 points 19 hours ago

What do we do, set our inflation target to -2% instead?

[–] BaldManGoomba@lemmy.world 8 points 23 hours ago* (last edited 23 hours ago)

Context and after some searching

  • Global Top 10% Wealth: ~$93,170 (2018)).

  • Global Top 10% Income: ~$39,382 annually (PPP-adjusted).

Wealth source

https://www.cnbc.com/2018/11/07/how-much-money-you-need-to-be-in-the-richest-10-percent-worldwide.html

Income source

https://wid.world/income-comparator/

[–] CheeseToastie@lazysoci.al 17 points 1 day ago

And in other news water is still wet

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