Climate Change - Disproportionate Impacts

To-Do Date: Apr 27 at 11:59pm

One key takeaway from this module is that the impacts of climate change are disproportionately born by those already most vulnerable.  This is true within the United States and when you scale out globally.  

The top image below shows the per capita carbon dioxide emissions of each country, color-coded.  The bottom image shows each country's vulnerability to climate change.  Generally, those people who have contributed least to the problem stand to bear the worst of the impacts.

Vulnerable Countries 1024.

Accessible text of top image shows the CO2 emissions per capita of each country.docx Download Accessible text of top image shows the CO2 emissions per capita of each country.docx 

Accessible text of bottom image shows the climate vulnerability of each country.docx Download Accessible text of bottom image shows the climate vulnerability of each country.docx 

This is also true if you look economically.  Those with greater wealth are better able to buffer themselves against the worst impacts of climate change, while contributing the most to the problem.  A recent study summarized (World's richest 1% cause double CO2 emissions of poorest 50%, says Oxfam Links to an external site.) found that the 630 million wealthiest people (the top 10%) were responsible for 52& of the world's carbons emissions from 1990-2015, while the world's poorest 50%, consisting of 3.1 billion people, produced only seven percent of emissions.

 

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