Jonesing on Carbon

Since 1990, the richest 1% caused 15% of emissions, twice as much as the poorest half of the world.

Luxury Boeing 747-8 Widebody Private Jet - Forward Dining. Image credit: Greenpoint Technologies

Luxury Boeing 747-8 Widebody Private Jet - Forward Lounge. Image credit: Greenpoint Technologies

And appetite, an universal wolf …
Must make perforce an universal prey,
And last eat up himself.
— William Shakespeare

It’s not about envy; it’s about control.
—Yours truly

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We’ve been writing about climate lately — see here for a list of recent climate offerings — and pretty much covered the ground as it lays before us in 2023.

• Global warming is accelerating — the global climate will cross +1.5°C next year, and +3°C in the 2070s, an absolute disaster.

• Deniers have switched to delay as a messaging tactic.

• The wealth that controls both US political parties will not change the way energy is produced or consumed.

• Yet the fossil fuel companies must go out of business if we’re not forced to don our lemming masks and march to the cliff.

There’s more to be said, of course, like the recent and scary increase in atmospheric methane, but all that’s left to complete the list above is to identify the leading users of carbon-based fuel, since it’s them we need to stop first of all.

The leading users of global fossil fuel

The news: The greatest users of carbon aren’t the middle classes of various countries, including the United States, though their use is still excessive. The greatest users aren’t the struggling poor or the rising workers of developing nations like India and China.

The greatest users by far are the very rich, the top 10% and especially 1%, wherever they’re found. Mostly they’re found in the West.

Some data:

• “[T]he richest 0.1% of the world’s population emitted 10 times more than all the rest of the richest 10% combined, exceeding a total footprint of 200 tonnes of CO₂ per capita annually. Within this 0.1% are the billionaires and multimillionaires whose emissions-intensive super-yachts, private jets, and mansions have attracted the attention of climate activists.”

• “Globally, the top 10% of emitters were responsible for almost half of global energy-related CO₂ emissions in 2021, compared with a mere 0.2% for the bottom 10%.”

• “Around 85% of [the top 10% of emitters] live in advanced economies – including Australia, Canada, the European Union, Japan, Korea, New Zealand, United States, and United Kingdom – and also in China.”

• “In 2021, the average North American emitted 11 times more energy-related CO₂ than the average African.”

Regarding the top 10% of global wealth, here’s a chart of per-capita energy use by income groups in four heavy-use regions, US, EU, China and India:

Regarding the richest 1%, consider this from Oxfam about the increase in carbon emissions:

Annual emissions grew by 60 percent between 1990 and 2015. The richest 5 percent were responsible for over a third (37 percent) of this growth. The total increase in emissions of the richest one percent was three times more than that of the poorest 50 percent. [emphasis added]

The super-rich are hands down the gas-guzzler kings of burning through the remaining carbon budget:

The richest 1% (c.63 million people) alone were responsible for 15% of cumulative emissions [since 1990], and 9% of the carbon budget – twice as much as the poorest half of the world’s population.

If it wasn’t clear before, we have a super-rich problem.

It’s not about envy; it’s about control

The wealthy, of course, will cast this story — that the rich are responsible for half the world’s fossil fuel use — as a tale of envy, ours of their wealth. But that’s a distraction. I would cast this story as a tale of control — taking back rule of the world from those destroying it, including, sadly, themselves.

With apologies to the author for a slight modification:

And appetite, a universal wolf, must make perforce a universal prey, and last eat up himself.

The very rich, the wolves, won’t save themselves. Why would we trust them to care about any of us? Clearly, we have to take control ourselves, be our own Jesus (in this metaphor) and lead ourselves, the lambs, from the infinite appetite of those we gave power to.

That sounds like work, taking control, and it is.

But what’s the alternative? Watch “the game” till there’s no more game to watch? Stream Netflix till their servers all go down? See your children bake and their hatred rise?

Or take this day and act? Your call, humanity. How else do we stop this death machine ruling class? If you see an alternative, say so.