Climate Change: Richest 1% Behind Global Carbon Emissions, New Report Says | Climate News

The richest 1% in the world produces twice as many carbon emissions as the poorest 50%, according to a new report.

“Despite a sharp drop in carbon emissions in 2020 linked to the COVID-19[female[feminine pandemic, the climate crisis – which is caused by the accumulation of emissions in the atmosphere over time – has continued to grow, ”warned the Cambridge Sustainability Commission.

Ahead of the COP26 Summit on climate change, he affirms that the government “must take advantage of this historic situation to build more just economies within the limits that our planet can support”.

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Dramatic lifestyle changes are needed among the so-called “polluting elite” to limit global warming to the 1.5 degree Celsius target set in the Paris Agreement, according to the report.

To avoid exceeding this limit, the richest 1% will need to reduce their emissions by a factor of at least 30 by 2030 – while the poorest 50% in the world should be able to increase their emissions. three times their current level – meaning the cheap energy ladder is not being taken away from developing countries.

According to the report of the Cambridge Sustainability Commission on Scaling Behavior Change – an expert group of 31 leaders – individual and systemic change go hand in hand.

Some of the report’s recommendations are dramatic, notably the fight against overconsumption by “dealing with advertising and the role of the media in normalizing and reifying high consumption behavior”, possibly by banning advertising.

He recommends a “choice edition” in which “governments, businesses and those with direct control over production limit the availability of high carbon products and services,” arguing: “It is much more difficult to end unsustainable behavior than to prevent the marketing of unsustainable products in the first place. “

Among the commission’s proposals is the establishment of what it describes as “a …