Climate inequality widening globally and nationally, new report shows

The disproportionate effect of the climate crisis is not only evident between the Global North and the Global South, but also within countries and among individuals, a new report by the World Inequality Lab has found.

Authored by Lucas Chancel, Philipp Bothe and Tancrède Voituriez, the report was sponsored by Norad and the United Nations Development Programme. Titled Climate Inequality Report 2023: Fair taxes for a sustainable future in the Global South, the report found that the top 10% of global carbon emitters generate half of all greenhouse gas emissions. 

It also found that the effort required to achieve the same emissions reductions for the top emitters is minimal; hence, global policies to achieve this should be targeted at the Global North. 

Lowering emissions through a just transition has indeed proven to be an infrastructural and financial challenge for developing countries such as South Africa. Decades of coal dependence have created a mammoth task for the country, which is experiencing its worst bouts of rolling blackouts. 

Read more in Daily Maverick: “What the world is learning from South Africa’s nascent Just Energy Transition Investment Plan”

“The comparison of the global bottom 50%, middle 40% and top 10% in terms of losses, emissions and capacity to finance global climate action provides a striking snapshot of climate inequalities and a reasonable guide to identify the key contributors to the funding of climate inequality reduction policies,” stated the report. 

Key to accelerating the energy transition is better understanding how different players may win or lose, the report found, as the top emitters in the Global North contribute the most emissions, but are shielded from, or will least experience, the consequences of the climate crisis. 

Though carbon inequalities exist between the Global North and South, the report also found that these inequalities are now greater within countries. Indicators have shown that the environmental costs of a small group of a population directly and/or indirectly disproportionately contribute to greenhouse gas emissions.

“Poverty and vulnerability to climate hazards are correlated and mutually reinforce each other. Many low-income regions are facing agricultural productivity losses of 30% and more due to climate change which aggravates poverty and food insecurity,” state the authors of the report. 

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