‘Richest 1% of World’s Population Emits Twice the Greenhouse Gases as the Poorest Half’

It appears that social inequality is not only unfair with the distribution of income and resources, but also affects the climate. This is according to Oxfam, a confederation of 20 independent charitable organizations which focuses on the alleviation of global poverty.

According to AFP, the humanitarian organization is asking for more social and climate justice in Covid-19’s post-pandemic stimulus packages.

To carry out the report, the NGO examined the period between 1990 and 2015. During these 25 years, global CO2 emissions have increased by almost 60%.

Carbon dioxide is responsible for heating the Earth, where the average temperature has risen 1 °C since the pre-industrial era.

According to Oxfam’s analysis, the richest 1% of the population represents almost 63 million people and was responsible for 15% of the accumulated emissions. This means twice as much as the poorest half of the population on the planet.

The richest 10% of the world population, about 630 million people, were responsible for 52% of carbon dioxide emissions.

Oxfam says that over the past 20 to 30 years, the climate crisis has worsened and the limited global carbon budget has been squandered to intensify consumption by the wealthy population and not to lift people out of poverty.

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