New research suggests that when it comes to climate damage, the super-rich aren't just guilty of flying private and posting yacht pics - their investment portfolios are also doing some heavy lifting.
According to a Greenpeace analysis, the top 1% of wealthiest individuals, through their shareholdings and investments, control about a quarter of global annual emissions. Their assets - from oil companies to property developments - produce an outsized share of the greenhouse gases overheating the planet.
Greenpeace calculated the "climate debt" of these high-net-worth individuals by attributing to them the damage caused by the assets they own. By this reckoning, the world's richest cause nearly $1tn a year of climate-related damage.
Clara Thompson, global lead campaigner on socioeconomic systems at Greenpeace International, said: "At a time when people are facing rising energy bills, rising living costs, and growing climate impacts, many are asking why ordinary households should shoulder so much of the burden, while some of the world's wealthiest people continue to profit from the industries driving the crisis."
Greenpeace estimates that the top 1% by wealth are responsible for about 40% of all "ownership"-based emissions - the emissions produced by businesses and associated with privately owned financial and physical assets, which themselves make up 60% of global carbon output. Within that group, the top 0.1% account for about 17% of ownership-based emissions, and the top 0.01% about 9%. The top 1% includes people with wealth above about $2m, the top 0.1% those with wealth above about $7m, and the top 0.01% those with wealth above about $38m.
By contrast, the bottom half of the world by wealth accounts for just 3% of ownership-based emissions.
Thompson emphasized that ownership-based emissions, though less visible than consumption-based ones, are harder to address. "This isn't only a story about private jets and lavish lifestyles. When it comes to the pollution of the ultra-wealthy, ownership matters even more than consumption," she said. "For years, climate policy has focused on consumers. But our findings suggest we should be paying much more attention to what [people] own and invest in."
One proposed solution: wealth taxes. "Climate debt is about responsibility," Thompson said. "If we agree that those who contributed most to the problem should contribute more to fixing it, it's reasonable to ask whether that principle should apply to extreme wealth as well."
Separate data showed that big banks and other financial investors poured $900bn into fossil fuels last year, despite promises made five years ago to curb such investments.
The glaring inequality between the climate impact of the super-rich and ordinary people is increasingly under scrutiny as wealth inequality soars. Last week, economist Thomas Piketty led a report showing the world could live equitably within planetary limits if wealth excesses were curbed by taxes and the poor allowed to keep more of their labor's value.
Governments (excluding the US) have gathered in Bonn, Germany, for two weeks of talks ahead of the COP31 UN climate summit in November, where a "just transition" for workers affected by the shift away from fossil fuels is expected to be a key topic.