America’s Highest Earners Are Disproportionately To Blame for Greenhouse Gas Emissions

Individuals in the US who command the highest incomes in the country are also pulling more weight when it comes to greenhouse gas emissions, a new study finds.

People who earn more than 90% of the country — the top 10% — are responsible for at least 40% of all climate change-causing emissions.

The inequality becomes starker toward the very top echelon of money makers.

The study, led by researchers at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, comes amid a summer of "virtually impossible" heat waves, deadly wildfires, and a new era of "global boiling."

The researchers used several data sources to calculate wages and investment income and tied them into emissions data.

In 2019, almost half of all emissions are connected to the top 10% of earners.

The top 1% of earners alone generated between 15 and 17% of all US emissions. By contrast, the poorest 50% of all households in the US generated 14% of emissions.

Going further up the income ladder, a tiny group of "super emitters," making up the top 0.1% of incomes, generate as much carbon pollution in 15 days as a bottom 10% household generates in a lifetime.

"This research gives us insight into the way that income and investments obscure emissions responsibility," said Jared Starr, a sustainability scientist at UMass Amherst who led the research, according to a press release.

"An income-based lens helps us focus in on exactly who is profiting the most from climate-changing carbon pollution, and design policies to shift their behavior."

The authors suggest that alternative taxation schemes, such as ones that focus on shareholders or investments rather than consumable goods, may help tamp down some of the inequality demonstrated by the study.

"Imagine how quickly corporate executives, board members and large shareholders would decarbonize their industries if we made it in their financial interest to do so," Starr said.

"We could really incentivize the Americans who are driving and profiting the most from climate change to decarbonize their industries and investments. It’s divestment through self-interest, rather than altruism."