World Report: The wealthiest polluter in the United States, known as the "super emitter," bears an inescapable responsibility for continuing the climate crisis! Global | US | Emissions
China Daily, August 24th - According to a recent report by CNN, the wealthiest group in the United States is also one of the world's largest polluters, not only because they have huge homes and private planes, but also because of the fossil fuels produced by the companies they invest in. The article also points out that the tax policies formulated by the United States disproportionately "punish" low-income individuals, while having little impact on the extremely wealthy class.
A recent research report published in the journal Public Library of Science Climate found that the wealthiest 10% of the population in the United States is responsible for nearly half of the country's heat pollution. Researchers are calling on the US government to abandon the carbon intensity tax on people's purchases and instead focus on taxing investments that pollute the country's climate.
Jared Starr, a sustainable development scientist and report author at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, said, "Global warming may be a huge, unstoppable, and ambiguous event happening around the world. Many people know that they are exacerbating global warming to some extent, but it cannot be quantified."
Starr said that this study helps people understand personal responsibility more clearly by going beyond their consumption. To achieve this, researchers analyzed a massive dataset spanning 30 years and linked financial transactions to carbon pollution.
They studied the thermal pollution generated by some companies operating directly in the United States, as well as the pollution related to climate impacts downstream of the supply chain. For example, most of the emissions from oil companies come from their customers burning the oil extracted by the companies. Researchers also used population survey data to link this data to households, which shows the industries people work in and their wages and investment income.
Research has found that the wealthiest 10% of households in the United States, with an annual income of over $178000, are responsible for 40% of anthropogenic heat pollution in the country. As for the top 1% of households in the United States with an annual income exceeding $550000, they account for 15% to 17% of the total pollution.
Climate change is a bitter fruit, with global heatwaves affecting glaciers and extreme heat and drought spreading throughout the world. Author: Song Chen, China Daily
This report also identifies "super emitters" - almost all of whom are the wealthiest 0.1% in the United States, concentrated in industries such as finance, insurance, and mining, producing approximately 3000 tons of carbon pollution annually. Starr said, "The carbon pollution generated by the top 0.1% of households in the United States in 15 days is equivalent to the carbon pollution generated by the bottom 10% of households in their lifetime."
The author of the report calls on policymakers to rethink how to use taxation to address the climate crisis. Carbon tax is concentrated on people's consumption - food, cars, clothing, etc. Starr said, "This disproportionately punishes the poor, but has little impact on the wealthiest." They also overlook the fact that the rich spend a lot of their wealth on investment rather than buying things.
Mark Paul, a political economist at Rutgers University in the United States, believes that such research "reveals the enormous responsibility that the wealthy bear in generating and sustaining climate crises.".
Responsibility
