A New Climate Change Report Says Rich People Account For Nearly Half Of Global Carbon Emissions
The UN Secretary General also accused governments of lying about emissions.
A new report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has detailed exactly what it will take to keep global warming below 1.5 degrees Celsius, noting that it will take “transformational change” to achieve this.
The report comes from the same organisation that the Australian Government recently tried to influence to downplay our impact on climate change.
According to the IPCC report, we could — in theory — halve our emissions by the end of the decade if we make some major lifestyle changes regarding diet, travel and, most importantly, fossil fuel consumption.
“We are at a crossroads,” said IPCC Chair Hoesung Lee. “The decisions we make now can secure a liveable future. We have the tools and know-how required to limit warming.”
The good news in that the report stresses we can keep global warming under two degrees, or even under 1.5 degrees, if we try. However, the not-so-good news is that it’ll take some pretty significant changes to actually achieve this.
Thankfully, the report also noted that we already have all of the technology needed to reach this goal — all we need to do is implement the tools at our disposal immediately. But unfortunately for the Earth — and everyone who inhabits it — the government is continuing to very slowly crawl towards a vague net zero plan that will see us reach the goal by 2050 and not a minute sooner.
Considering greenhouse gas emissions saw the highest increase in human history over the last decade — reaching more than 59 billion tonnes of CO2 in 2019 — it is imperative that we deal with the problem, well, yesterday.
Specifically, there was a significant increase in fossil fuel-intensive vehicle sales in the last decade, despite electric vehicle technology becoming more accessible than ever.
“Sales of SUVs, sports utility vehicles, went up 17 percent. Aviation [went up] 29 percent,” the report said. “Energy demand for cooling in residential buildings went up 40 percent.”
Another major find in the report stressed that carbon emissions are not equal across the globe, with the wealthy emitting far more than our fair share of greenhouse gases, which is particularly concerning considering we have the means and the resources to switch to renewable energy immediately.
As per the report, the richest 10 percent of the planet accounted for 40 percent of emissions, while the bottom 50 percent of the population made up less than 15 percent.
However, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has warned that governments “lying” about climate action poses a threat to our efforts to save the planet.
“Some government and business leaders are saying one thing, but doing another. Simply put: they are lying. And the results will be catastrophic,” said Guterres, calling it “a litany of broken climate promises”.
While Guterres didn’t personally name Australia, Prime Minister Scott Morrison has been caught out on a claim about our carbon emissions before — so if the shoe fits, wear it, I guess.