Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

Shift the focus from the super-poor to the super-rich

Nature Climate Change volume 9, pages 82–84 (2019)Cite this article

Subjects

Carbon mitigation efforts often focus on the world’s poorest people, dealing with topics such as food and energy security, and increased emissions potential from projected population, income and consumption growth. However, more policies are needed that target people at the opposite end of the social ladder — the super-rich.

In 2017, there were just over 36 million adults classified as High Net Worth Individuals (net assets above US$1 million), and there were 148,000 classified as Ultra High Net Worth Individuals (net assets above US$50 million)1. The super-rich are, on the one hand, the most visible social group in terms of their presence in mass culture, social media, politics and business, and on the other hand, the most hidden social group in terms of the availability of data on their income, lifestyles, resource use, consumption patterns, mobility and social networks. It seems as though we know a lot about them from watching television and soap operas, and reading glossy magazines.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Relevant articles

Open Access articles citing this article.

Access options

Rent or buy this article

Prices vary by article type

from$1.95

to$39.95

Learn more

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Fig. 1: The estimated carbon footprint of a typical super-rich household of two people.

References

  1. Global Wealth Report 2017 (Credit Suisse AG, 2017).

  2. Kleinhückelkotten, S., Neitzke, H.-P. & Moser, S. Repräsentative Erhebung von Pro-Kopf- Verbräuchen natürlicher Ressourcen in Deutschland (nach Bevölkerungsgruppen) 143 (2016).

  3. Sample Survey of Income and Expenditure (Statistisches Bundesamt, 2016).

  4. Kenner, D. Inequality of Overconsumption: The Ecological Footprint of the Richest (Anglia Ruskin University, 2015).

  5. Kravets, O. & Sandikci, O. J. Mark. 78, 125–140 (2014).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  6. Billionaires Insights 2018: New Visionaries and the Chinese Century (USB, PwC, 2018).

  7. Oxfam. Extreme Carbon Inequality (Oxfam, 2015).

  8. Peattie, K. & Peattie, S. J. Bus. Res. 62, 260–268 (2009).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  9. Chancel, L. & Piketty, T. Carbon and Inequality: from Kyoto to Paris (2015).

  10. Rapier, R. Leonardo DiCaprio’s carbon footprint is much higher than he thinks. Forbes (1 March 2016).

  11. IPCC Climate Change 2014: Mitigation of Climate Change Ch. 6 (eds Edenhofer, O. et al.) (Cambridge Univ. Press, 2014).

  12. How the world’s billionaires got so rich. Forbes (10 March 2018).

  13. Keskitalo, E. C. H., Juhola, S., Baron, N., Fyhn, H. & Klein, J. Climate 4, 7 (2016).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  14. Puaschunder, J. M. Mapping Climate Justice (Social Science Research Network, 2016).

  15. WBGU. Just and In-Time Climate Policy Four Initiatives for a Fair Transformation (German Advisory Council on Global Change, 2018).

  16. Mapped: Where multilateral climate funds spend their money. Carbon Brief (6 November 2017).

  17. Schellnhuber, H. J. et al. in Handbook on Sustainability Transition and Sustainable Peace 267–283 (Springer International Publishing, 2016).

Download references

Acknowledgements

The authors acknowledge comments on the research received from F. Wätzold, K. Vinke, J. Sendzimir, V. Hüzeir, T. Garcia and A. Schuster as well as funding from the Earth League alliance. This work has been carried out within the Copan: Co-evolutionary Pathways Research Group at PIK. N.D. is an independent artist and author of the international educational platform Anthropology For Kids (www.A4Kids.org).

Author information

Author notes

  1. Unaffiliated:dubrovsky@gmail.com.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Earth System Analysis, Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research, Member of the Leibniz Association, Potsdam, Germany

    Ilona M. Otto & Wolfgang Lucht

  2. Environmental and Resource Management, Brandenburg University of Technology Cottbus – Senftenberg, Cottbus, Germany

    Kyoung Mi Kim

  3. Korea Foundation for the Advancement of Science and Creativity, Seoul, South Korea

    Kyoung Mi Kim

  4. Department of Geography, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Berlin, Germany

    Wolfgang Lucht

Authors
  1. Ilona M. Otto
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Kyoung Mi Kim
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Nika Dubrovsky
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Wolfgang Lucht
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Ilona M. Otto.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and Permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Otto, I.M., Kim, K.M., Dubrovsky, N. et al. Shift the focus from the super-poor to the super-rich. Nature Clim Change 9, 82–84 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41558-019-0402-3

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41558-019-0402-3

This article is cited by

Search

Advanced search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing