Skip to main content

Advertisement

Log in

SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT

Highly unequal carbon footprints

  • News & Views
  • Published:

From Nature Sustainability

View current issue Submit your manuscript

Greenhouse gas emissions can be traced to the behaviour of individuals. Now, research quantifies carbon footprints worldwide, showing that the richest ten per cent are responsible for nearly half of all emissions.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Fig. 1: Luxury mansion in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, USA.

Solarysys / Alamy Stock Photo.

References

  1. IPCC Climate Change 2022: Mitigation of Climate Change (eds Shukla, P. R. et al.) (Cambridge Univ. Press, 2022).

  2. Chancel, L. Nat. Sustain. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41893-022-00955-z (2022).

  3. Davis, S. J. & Caldeira, K. Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA 107, 5687–5692 (2010).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  4. Lenzen, M. Energy Policy 26, 495–506 (1998).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  5. Weber, C. L. & Matthews, H. S. Ecol. Econ. 66, 379–391 (2008).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  6. Chancel, L. & Piketty, T. Carbon and Inequality: From Kyoto to Paris (Paris School of Economics, 2015).

  7. Semieniuk, G. & Yakovenko, V. M. J. Clean. Prod. 264, 121420 (2020).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  8. Bruckner, B., Hubacek, K., Shan, Y., Zhong, H. & Feng, K. Nat. Sustain. 5, 311–320 (2022).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  9. World Inequality Database https://wid.world/ (2022)

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Lutz Sager.

Ethics declarations

Competing interests

The author declares no competing interests.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Sager, L. Highly unequal carbon footprints. Nat Sustain 5, 912–913 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41893-022-00939-z

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41893-022-00939-z

  • Springer Nature Limited

Navigation