Wealthiest 10 Percent of Americans Responsible for 40 Percent of U.S. Emissions
Wealthiest 10 Percent of Americans Responsible for 40 Percent of U.S. Emissions - Yale E360
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The top 10 percent of U.S. earners are responsible 40 percent of the country’s emissions, according to a new analysis, the first to look at the climate impact of how Americans make money, including from investments.
If a worker earns a wage at a factory that generates carbon emissions, her income is linked, in some small measure, with those emissions. The same is true of someone who invests in the factory. But, while the wealthiest Americans earn far more of their money from investing, the climate impact of their investments is rarely considered.
For the new study, researchers analyzed data on emissions and income from 1990 to 2019. Accounting for earnings from investments, they found that not only are the top 10 percent of earners responsible for 40 percent of emissions, but the top 1 percent are responsible for at least 15 percent of emissions. The study, published in PLOS Climate, further found that white Americans have the biggest carbon footprint of any group, while Black Americans have the smallest, a reflection of the racial wealth gap.
The emissions disparity is more pronounced at the extreme end of the income spectrum, among the top one-tenth of 1 percent. “For example, 15 days of income for a top 0.1 percent household generates as much carbon pollution as a lifetime of income for a household in the bottom 10 percent,” Jared Starr, a researcher at the University of Massachusetts Amherst and lead author of the study, said in a statement.
“I think we need to make sure that our climate policies take these disparities into account,” Starr said. “I believe that an income- or asset-based carbon tax would focus the minds of corporate executives, board members, and large shareholders to decarbonize their industries in order to reduce their taxes.”
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Related Knowledge Center: Climate economics
Climate change is now a driver of the world’s economy. The impact is profound:
- Catastrophic weather events — hurricanes, floods, droughts, high temperatures — are more frequent and more extreme. The cost can be measured in both the initial damage caused and the longer-term impact on the economy.
- Vulnerable communities are increasing climate-related investments, hardening infrastructure and taking other protective measures.
- Investment in carbon capture and storage technologies is increasingly rapidly.
- Governments are making investments and crafting regulations to reduce emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases.
On top of all of this is the cost of uncertainty. As the Fourth National Climate Assessment, released in 2018 by the U.S. Global Change Research Program, says, “The assumption that current and future climate conditions will resemble the recent past is no longer valid.”