28 May 2019 - The rich getting richer under climate change, study reveals
How global warming has made the rich richer
Pablo Uchoa (BBC World Service, 06/05/2019)
Temperatures may be rising globally, but not all of us feel the impact in the same way.
Over the past half century, climate change has increased inequality between countries, dragging down growth in the poorest nations whilst likely boosting prosperity in some of the richest, a new study says.
The gap between the world's poorest and richest countries is about 25% larger today than it would have been without global warming, according to Stanford University researchers in California.
Global warming is exacerbating global economic inequality: Study
(Mongabay, 10/05/2019)
New research finds that global warming has exacerbated global economic inequality, making already-wealthy nations even richer while slowing economic growth in poorer countries.
According to the study, published in PNAS late last month, between 1961 and 2010 rising temperatures led to a 17 to 30 percent decrease in per-capita wealth in the world’s poorest countries. Meanwhile, the wealthy countries that are the world’s biggest greenhouse gas emitters have seen their per-capita GDP grow about 10 percent higher today than they would have in a world without warming.
Poor countries that, by and large, have not enjoyed the benefits of fossil fuel energy have been made relatively poorer by the energy consumption of wealthy countries — but renewable energy sources might offer a partial solution to both the climate crisis and global inequality.
A Green New Deal must deliver global justice
Asad Rehman (Red Pepper, 29/05/2019)
For too long the severity and scale of the climate crisis has been deliberately understated, but October’s release of the IPCC’s Special Report on the Global Warming of 1.5°c finally sent shockwaves into the populations of rich countries. The urgent need for action was clear with the world now in ‘decade zero’, when every decision taken in the coming years will determine the extent to which the critical 1.5°c guardrail is breached triggering run away climate change. Despite these warnings the UN estimates that current emission targets will put the world on a trajectory of at least 3.4°c and possibly up to 7°c warming.
The report was of course not news to people living in the global South, they had long been dealing with the devastating impacts of climate change – warming of just 1c has been enough to unleash killer floods, droughts and famines.
Climate change has benefited UK economy, but damaged that of poorer nations
Ruchira Sharma (iNews, 23/05/2019)
Climate change is widening the gap between wealthier and poorer countries, a study has found.
The findings, published on Monday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, found that temperature changes triggered by greenhouse gases has increased economic growth in countries such as UK and Norway, while reducing them in India and Nigeria.
US researchers from Stanford University found that between 1961 and 2010, less wealthy countries had the lowest carbon emissions and also suffered the biggest losses, while those with the highest emissions were among the wealthiest and benefited.