Top 10% of Carbon Emitters Cause Half of All Emissions

The highest-emitting ten percent of the world's population are responsible for an estimated 47 percent share of global CO₂ emissions. This is the result of a 2022 study published in the journal Nature Sustainability, which focused on how alleviating poverty worldwide would impact carbon emissions. As our chart shows, per-capita emissions of the top one percent of global carbon emitters are roughly 50 times higher than the emissions of the bottom 50 percent, highlighting the global imbalance in carbon footprints.

While our chart shows global figures, the size of the disparity between high- and low-emitting individuals varies by region. In Europe, for example, the bottom 50 percent hold a higher estimated share of total emissions than the top ten percent, while the top one percent in Sub-Saharan Africa induced more carbon emissions than the bottom 50 percent.

While combating global poverty would entail a coordinated effort and logistical challenges, its effects on global warming would be minimal according to the study. Lifting more than one billion people above the poverty line under the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 1 would only raise the estimated global CO₂ output by roughly two percent, even though carbon emissions in low to lower-middle income countries in Sub-Saharan Africa could double.