Top-Earning 10 Percent Responsible for the Majority of Global Warming, Study Finds

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This story was originally published by the Guardian and is reproduced here as part of the Climate Desk collaboration.

The world’s wealthiest 10 percent 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 percent of full-time employees in the UK—bear a heightened responsibility for the climate disasters affecting people who can least afford it.