Millionaires will burn through 2/3 of world's carbon budget by 2050

[Duppers]

To limit global warming to below 1.5°C, we can only burn a certain amount of carbon.

But millionaire emissions alone will deplete 72 per cent of this allowance before 2050, according to a paper published in the latest Cleaner Production Letters journal.

“Continued growth in emissions at the top makes a low-carbon transition less likely, as the system's capacity to decarbonize,” the scientists warn.

https://www.euronews.com/green/2023/03/22/millionaires-will-burn-through-two-thirds-of-the-worlds-carbon-budget-by-2050-scientists-w

[brooklynite]

1. What are "millionaire emissions"?

[harumph]

3. I think the focus is private jets - but you're right - it's unclear.

[muriel_volestrangler]

6. Emission from people who have over $1m now, or $2.4m by 2050

These are now 0.7% of the world population; by 2050, they will be 3.3%.

When you delve into the paper orthoclad linked to in reply #4, you find table 1, which divides up the amounts by the top 10%, 1%, .1% and .01%. And you find that the "9%" (ie the 10% excluding the 1%) have, from 1990 to 2020, modestly cut their per capita CO2 emissions from 17.3 tonnes to 15.7. But the "0.9%" above them have increased from 42.4t to 49t, the "0.09%" from 135t to 161t, and the 0.01% from 980t to 1784t.

If that trend continues, by 2050, the 0.01% will be emitting 238 times as much CO2 per capita than the 9%.

(And, taking data from Table 6.1 in the supplemental tables of the Chancel paper which their 1990 and 2020 figures come from, I reckon, for completeness' sake, the 90% went from 2.5t CO2 in 1990 to 2.6t in 2020)

https://static-content.springer.com/esm/art%3A10.1038%2Fs41893-022-00955-z/MediaObjects/41893_2022_955_MOESM1_ESM.pdf

[Delphinus]

2. For some reason,

the millionaires do NOT seem concerned.

And, really, when it comes down to it, it's the first world countries that are doing the damage, not just those with tons of money. I wish I could remember the statistic I read yesterday about how many people in the world DO NOT fly. It was staggering. But they are the ones paying the price because they will feel the ramifications of climate change first.

[orthoclad]

4. Yachts, air travel, and real estate

The Euronews article is poorly written because it refers to a study without linking to it. I did some digging and found the pdf of the paper on Elsevier.
https://reader.elsevier.com/reader/sd/pii/S2666791622000252?token=A1A006725A2024F70784A0D67FA80C77A384E332021618ADCD97C1BE7F6E913046B83ECFC184E19F7CC2456E2322582A&originRegion=us-east-1&originCreation=20230323131315

"Key drivers of individual emissions include energy-intense trans-
portation, especially private aircraft and yachts, and multiple real estate
ownership, often in different continents (Barros and Wilk, 2021; Bea-
verstock and Faulconbridge, 2014). Studies investigating celebrities,
including US$ billionaires, have found that individuals can cause emissions of up to 1600 t CO2 per year through the use of private aircraft
alone (G ̈ossling, 2019). The largest source of individual emissions is
however yachts: Barros and Wilk (2021) estimate that close to two thirds
of the overall carbon footprint of those billionaires owning yachts is
caused by yacht-ownership. This implies a contribution to climate
change that is up to 6500 times greater for these individuals than the
global average of 4.5 t CO2 per capita and year, or up to 300,000 times
greater than the contribution of the poorest, at 0.1 t CO2 per person and
year (The World Bank, 2022a)." (emphasis mine)

The point of having extra money is conspicuous consumption. If you got it, flaunt it.

[Duppers]

5. Wow. Did not realize that yachts put out that much carbon.

I think I've just conflated "yachts" with large sailing boats. Yachts are big carbon hogs.

The private aircraft carbon data is totally believable:
"On an average day, more than 200,000 flights take off and land across the world. -Aug 25, 2022"

The World's Flight Tracker radar:

https://www.flightradar24.com/


The most troubling aspect of the very affluent
is their stupid & very cavalier "I can afford it" attitude. Yes, I've seen it once up close and imagine many others here also have.



Thanks, orthoclad!

[orthoclad]

10. They can afford it by

first stealing the labor of the workers, then by crapping on the world.

[gulliver]

7. Bill Gates and his family probably have net negative carbon emission footprints

Criticism is fine, but we should never fail to acknowledge that Gates and others among the wealthy are also leaders in finding climate solutions.

[madville]

8. I don't know if I buy that

Just what the world’s militaries and commercial airliners burn through, dwarfs the carbon directly attributed to people.

[NickB79]

9. I think it's subtly telling us our carbon budget is way too small

If millionaires alone can burn through 2/3 of it, that implies that we're much closer to the edge than anyone wants to admit.

Not that our carbon budget has any basis in reality. We're already past 420 ppm, which is the highest in MILLIONS of years.