Climate debt: The ultra-rich owe $1 trillion a year, and the poorest are paying the price

The richest 0.01% of the planet accumulate nearly $1 trillion in climate debt each year, mainly through carbon-intensive investments.

While citizens are being asked to change their habits and reduce their consumption, a tiny fraction of the global population continues to have a disproportionate impact on the climate. To what extent? According to a new report by Greenpeace Africa, the climate debt accumulated each year by the richest 0.01% of the planet’s population is nearly $1 trillion (or nearly €860 billion).

What is climate debt?

It's the cost of the damage caused by greenhouse gas emissions that exceed the fair share of carbon compatible with the goal of limiting global warming to 1.5°C. "Property-based climate debt" measures the climate liability associated with owning carbon-intensive companies, stocks, and investments. In other words: who owns and profits from the activities that generate the most emissions?

But why focus on the ultra-rich? Because climate debt is heavily concentrated among the world’s wealthiest segments. The richest 0.01% of the population owns a disproportionate share of polluting assets and therefore bears an extremely heavy climate responsibility.

The report

The most interesting finding is undoubtedly the source of this impact: it's not just yachts, private jets, or luxury consumption that make the difference. What weighs most heavily are, above all, investments. The report estimates that the climate debt linked to the wealth and investments of the top 0.01% of the global population (individuals with a net worth exceeding $38 million) amounts to approximately $992 billion per year. The debt associated with their consumption, meanwhile, reaches $405 billion.

In other words, the problem is not just about how the ultra-rich live, but above all where they invest their money.

According to Greenpeace, the climate crisis is also a crisis of wealth concentration. This is why climate policies should begin to take into account not only emissions produced by industries and consumers, but also those linked to large financial assets and stakes in carbon-intensive companies.

The figures help illustrate the scale of the phenomenon: in 2022, each individual in the top 0.01% was associated with an average climate debt of over $1.24 million resulting from their investments—more than double the approximately $507,000 attributed to their personal consumption.

For Greenpeace, these data reinforce the need to effectively apply the “polluter pays” principle. Taxing extreme wealth and the most polluting investments could indeed help cover a significant portion of the funding needed to support the ecological transition and help the most vulnerable countries cope with the impacts of the climate crisis—needs estimated at at least $1 trillion per year.

“We're discovering that the impact of the ultra-rich on the climate is far more severe than we imagined,” observes Clara Thompson of Greenpeace International. The statement brings back a question that is increasingly difficult to ignore: if the climate crisis affects everyone, who should really bear the costs?

For the environmental organization, the answer is clear. Governments should implement more effective tax systems targeting the wealthiest individuals and the companies most responsible for emissions, while strengthening tax transparency and the fight against tax evasion.

While millions of people suffer from increasingly severe droughts, floods, and heat waves, a significant portion of the climate bill continues to be generated by an extremely small global elite.