Why the climate change is different from other environmental challenges

Chris Bishop says 'we can't buy our way out of our infrastructure deficit' and need new ways to pay for highways.

Nairobi, Kenya / Bonn, Germany – A very small group of ultra-wealthy individuals is associated with disproportionate climate harm, driven alarmingly by their ownership of and investments in high-emitting activities alongside their carbon-intensive lifestyles, a Greenpeace Africa report revealed today. In 2022, the investments of the world’s richest 0.01% were associated with an estimated US$992 billion in what the report describes as climate debt – the monetised climate damages associated with emissions exceeding an equitable share of the remaining carbon budget consistent with a 1.5°C pathway. By comparison, the report estimates the consumption-based climate debt of the world’s richest 0.01% at US$405 billion in 2022.[1] Clara Thompson, climate and tax justice lead campaigner at Greenpeace International, said: “We are learning that the climate impact of extreme wealth is far greater than previously understood. Yet governments often urge ordinary people to carry the burden of climate action while paying far less attention to those with the greatest climate debt and ability to cover the costs of climate breakdown: wealthy investors and major polluters. Something is fundamentally out of balance.” The report Understanding the Climate Debt of Extreme Wealth highlights how the climate crisis is increasingly also a crisis of extreme wealth...