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Extreme carbon inequality calls for attention to poorest people: report

Xinhua, December 2, 2015 Adjust font size:

The Paris climate deal must put the poorest, lowest emitting and most vulnerable people first, urged the latest report of Oxfam, an NGO, on Wednesday during the Paris climate conference.

"Climate change is inextricably linked to economic inequality: it is a crisis that is driven by the greenhouse gas emissions of the 'haves' that hits the 'have-nots' the hardest," explained the report.

Oxfam report demonstrated the extent of global carbon inequality by estimating and comparing the lifestyle consumption emissions of rich and poor citizens in different countries.

Results suggested that the poorest half of the global population - around 3.5 billion people - are responsible for only around 10 percent of total global emissions attributed to individual consumption, yet live overwhelmingly in the countries most vulnerable to climate change.

On the other hand, around half of these emissions can be attributed to the richest 10 percent of people around the world, who have average carbon footprints 11 times as high as the poorest half of the population, and 60 times as high as the poorest 10 percent.

In particular, the average footprint of the richest 1 percent of people globally could be 175 times that of the poorest 10 percent.

However, even for the richest citizens, "a weak agreement in Paris is no more in their interests than it is in the interests of the poorest and least responsible."

"Increasingly members of the richest 10 percent are experiencing the impacts of climate change themselves, and are mobilizing to demand action from their governments," said the report.

The report also warned that the only beneficiaries of inadequate climate action in Paris and beyond are a much smaller elite with vested interests in the continuation of a high carbon and deeply unequal global economy.

"Governments in Paris need to stand up to their influence, and stand up for their citizens - the poorest, lowest emitting and most vulnerable among them first and foremost - if Paris is to deliver an agreement for those who need it most," urged the report. Endit