What is the distribution of GHG emissions by income?

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Not everyone pollutes as much. The size of gasoline-powered vehicles, the use of plane flights, the meat portion of the diet, the consumption of material goods: many variables modify the carbon footprint of a person or a family. And in many cases, these variables also depend on income.

How are greenhouse gas emissions distributed within our society according to different income brackets? asks a reader, Kateri Morin. Information from the World Inequality Database (WID) helps answer this question.

The scientists responsible for this database have calculated, using sophisticated models and official statistics, how GHG emissions are distributed among the citizens of more than 100 countries. They establish a close correspondence between an individual’s income and their carbon footprint.

We can therefore consider, for example, that the 10% of the richest citizens coincides with the 10% of citizens who pollute the most.

Here are their results for Canada in 2019:

• Within the half of the population that emits the least GHGs, each person generates, on average, 10.0 tonnes of CO equivalent₂ (CO eq.₂).
• At the 50th percentile, each person emits 14.6 tonnes CO2e. CO₂.
• Among the 10% that emit the most, the average is 60.3 tons eq. CO₂.
• And among the top 1% of emitters, it stands at 190.2 tonnes eq. CO₂.

These balances count direct emissions from households, such as gasoline, but also the GHGs associated with the manufacture of the products they consume. The carbon footprint of their investments is also taken into account. The sum of the emissions is divided equally among the members of each household.

A first observation is obvious: the distribution of GHG emissions is highly unequal within the population. In Canada, the first decile of emitters generates 10 times more GHGs than the last decile. And this phenomenon is not specific to our country: the citizens of other countries also divide the cake in a fundamentally unequal way.

How do the emissions of the richest inhabitants of our country compare to those of inhabitants elsewhere on the planet? The 10% of Canadians who emit the most (60.3 tons per year) have a carbon footprint slightly lower than that of the same group in the United States (74.7 tons), but much higher than that of the same group in France (24 .7 tons), and more than six times that of India (8.8 tons).

And what portrait is emerging, from one country to another, within the half of the population that emits the least? In Canada, this group emits 10.0 tonnes per year. This same group emits about as much in the United States (9.7 tonnes), half as much in France (5.0 tonnes), and ten times less in India (1.0 tonne). These numbers obviously say nothing about the quality of life of the inhabitants of these countries.

To hope to limit global warming to 1.5°C, each human would have to emit a maximum of 1.9 tonnes of CO₂ eq. per year by 2050, before dropping to zero. Thus, the GHG emissions of the less affluent inhabitants of rich countries are already proving too high. Even the 34 million poorest French people, each with 5.0 tonnes per year, are far from the goal.

In return, public policies geared towards reducing emissions from the largest emitters have immense potential, according to Lucas Chancel, co-director of the Global Inequalities Lab, which produces the WID. “Everyone has to go down to zero. The question is where to put the cursor, and who are we asking for more effort, ”he explained in an interview with the newspaper. The world last year.

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