High-income groups disproportionately contribute to climate extremes worldwide
- Hakan Sener
- Jul 2
- 3 min read
Updated: Jul 16
A 2025 study finds the top 1% income group is responsible for 20% of warming and over 25× the heat extremes compared to the global average.
In a study published by Sarah Schöngart and colleagues from institutions including IIASA, ETH Zürich, and Humboldt University present a detailed global attribution of extreme climate events to income-based greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. The research uses advanced climate emulators to show how the wealthiest individuals are vastly more responsible for global warming and associated climate extremes than the rest of the population.
Between 1990 and 2020, the top 10% of global earners were responsible for two-thirds of global temperature rise, while the top 1% alone contributed one-fifth. These emissions are not only fueling global warming but also dramatically increasing the frequency and intensity of regional heatwaves and droughts, especially in vulnerable areas like the Amazon and Sub-Saharan Africa.
Key Findings: Climate Inequality Quantified
The Wealthiest Are the Warmest
The top 10% of income earners globally contributed 65% of warming since 1990 (0.40 °C out of 0.61 °C total rise).
The top 1% contributed 20% of warming (0.12 °C), and the top 0.1% contributed 8% (0.05 °C).
If the whole world had emitted like the bottom 50%, there would have been virtually no warming since 1990.
Income and Emissions: A Global Breakdown
In the United States, the top 1% contributed 53 times more to warming than the national average; in the EU27, it was 21 times more.
In China and India, national per capita emissions are lower, but their top 1% and 0.1% still significantly overshoot global averages.
Heat Extremes: A Rich Man’s Legacy
Emissions from the global top 10% have led to 7.3 times more extreme heat events than the average.
The top 1% contributed over 25 times more to these peak summer heat extremes.
In regions like the Amazon, emissions from the top 10% of U.S. and Chinese citizens led to a 2–3 fold increase in 1-in-100-year heat events.
Droughts Driven by Inequality
The Amazon saw the most robust signal for meteorological droughts, especially in October, with a 3-fold increase in extreme dry months.
The emissions of the global top 1% contributed 16.7 times more than the average to these drought conditions.
A New Frontier in Climate Justice and Policy
This study not only quantifies climate injustice but also visualizes transboundary climate impacts. For instance, emissions from the U.S. top 10% disproportionately drove heat extremes in Southeast Africa and Southeast Asia. These findings highlight how climate harms are often exported—those least responsible suffer the most.
The analysis also underscores the role of methane (CH₄) in near-term warming and emphasizes the need for targeted mitigation strategies, including a potential global wealth tax and reforms to financial investment systems that prioritize climate responsibility.
The Climate Footprint of Inequality
This study presents irrefutable evidence that climate change is not only about emissions—it's about who is emitting. The wealthiest groups, through consumption and investment, are disproportionately responsible for worsening climate extremes worldwide. In a world struggling with climate justice, this research provides robust data to inform fairer climate finance, emissions policy, and adaptation strategies.
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