What’s happening around the world about climate? Selected moments from the collection of Reevaluation Counseling leader Russ Vernon-Jones and shared by local Omni member Dorothy Marcy
In many nations the emissions of the top 10% exceed the emissions of the bottom 50%
Data from the International Energy Agency (IEA) details the energy-related CO2 emissions per person in 2021 in a dozen major countries (including Japan, India, the U.S. , the UK, Russia, China, Mexico, and Brazil), plus the 27-nation EU. Within all these nations, the emissions of the top 10% are as high as those of at least the bottom 50%. In the US and China the situation is even less equal: the emissions of the top 10% are higher than the bottom 70% combined.
In the US and Canada, road transport makes up about a third of the footprint of the top 10%. The transport emissions of the richest 10% are the same as the transport footprint of the bottom 70% of the population in those countries.
Experts say that taking these differences into account will be important in designing effective climate policies.