The richest 10 percent of U.S. households are responsible for 40% of America’s greenhouse gas emissions, according to a study released this month in PLOS Climate.
Turns out, rich people can create emissions without even breaking a sweat.
I’ve always thought my carbon footprint… (yes, I do have one, and so do you)… was from driving my car instead of riding my bike. And also, forgetting to turn off the porch light when I go to bed.
And eating beef. I’ve been reading about cows, and methane, and it’s not a pleasant story. And have you seen the price of a steak lately? I usually walk right past the beef section, and find something more affordable. Pork is more affordable, for example, and I have yet to come across a news story about pigs and methane.
Rich people don’t have to worry about the price of beef. They can eat steak every day if they want.
Also, they don’t worry about turning off the porch light. (That would be, ‘porch lights’ plural.) Or the lights illuminating the fountain.
But that’s not the only reason rich people have such big carbon footprints.
The study mentioned in PLOS Climate looked at how a household’s income produced emissions. The lead author of the study, Jared Starr, says his team looked, in particular, at how rich people invest their money. (They have extra money to invest, unlike the rest of us.) When a rich person invests in — for example — Exxon, that rich person not only extracts money out of my pocket every time I fill my tank; they also become responsible for all the carbon dioxide my car subsequently pumps into the atmosphere.
Not directly responsible, of course. Just partly responsible, because they supplied the evil gasoline that I am putting into my tank.
At a fill-up, I am directly responsible for $50 worth of carbon pollution. Meanwhile, the rich guys who own Exxon are indirectly responsible for $387 billion worth of carbon dioxide fumes.
That’s how we arrive at the claim that the richest 10% of Americans are responsible for 40% of the nation’s green house gas.
You eat steak every day, and it finally comes back to haunt you.
The researchers also identified “super-emitters” with extremely high overall greenhouse gas emissions, corresponding to the top 0.1% of households. About 15 days of emissions from a super-emitter was equal to a lifetime of emissions for someone in the poorest 10% in America.
If I had stock in Exxon, I would be selling it, right about now.
Even French economists are concerned about this stuff. Like Lucas Chancel, senior economist at the World Inequality Lab of the Paris School of Economics.
“All Americans contribute to climate change, but clearly not in the same way. Without policies such as regulations or taxes on very polluting investments, it’s unlikely that wealthy individuals making a lot of money from fossil fuel investments will stop investing in them.”
All French contribute to climate change, too, but they would rather point the finger at our rich people. Which doesn’t seem exactly fair.
But life isn’t fair. A really rich person in France pays a 49% federal income tax rate. A really rich person in the U.S. pays 37%, which leaves 63% for Exxon stock, steaks, and porch lights.
The PLOS Climate group doesn’t expect their study to be taken seriously by rich people, however.
Jared Starr:
“The group we’re talking about here is the wealthiest, most economically and politically powerful group in the country, and it’s their policy preferences that dominate policymaking.”
That’s a bit depressing.