do the richest 10% consume twenty times more energy than the poorest 10%, as Adrien Quatennens asserts?

“The richest 10% consume twenty times more than the poorest 10%. And the richest 1% are responsible for twice as many emissions as the poorest half of humanity”, denounced the LFI deputy, Adrien Quatennens, questioned on Friday July 15, on BFMTV. Calling out “try to be collectively careful”, the rebellious elected official denounced a social injustice in this global injunction. He believes that the richest are more responsible for energy consumption and therefore pollution.

Energy sobriety, of course, but first of all that of the very rich who consume and pollute the most. You can turn down the heat, but in 10 minutes of space tourism, Jeff Bezos emits more CO2 than the poorest billion of humanity in a lifetime! #BFMTV pic.twitter.com/ZexmqDwurw

— Adrien Quatennens (@AQuatennens) July 15, 2022

A study published in 2020 in the scientific journal Nature Energy confirms this observation on a global scale. British researchers have studied energy consumption in the world, in particular by peeling the data of the World Bank and the European Union on 86 countries. Result: the most advantaged consume much more than the poorest. The richest 10% alone consume 39% of total energy, while the poorest only consume 2%.

Cars and airplanes

This study explains in particular that the poorest are sometimes completely or almost completely excluded from the consumption of certain goods. This is particularly the case for leisure, tourist stays or the purchase of vehicles. According to these researchers, the richest 10% consume 187 times more energy than the poorest for their travels, in particular fuel. And for good reason, individual mobility is almost out of reach for the poorest. Or to put it more simply: the richest take their cars or the plane, while the poorest are on foot or by public transport.

This study, like others, also confirms the greater responsibility of the richest in CO2 emissions. In 2019, the Laboratory of Global Inequalities showed that the richest had emitted 110 tonnes of CO2 on average per year and per inhabitant, compared to 1.6 tonnes per year and per inhabitant among the poorest 50%.