New Research Attacks Nearly 1 Billion Affluent People
Grievances grow against those making more than €42,980 per year...
A recent study published in Nature Climate Change and reported by Le Monde on May 13, 2025, reveals that the wealthiest 10% of the global population are responsible for approximately two-thirds of the factors contributing to global warming. This research not only considers direct consumption but also, for the first time, quantifies the impact of financial investments on the increased likelihood of extreme weather events such as heatwaves and droughts.
The study builds upon earlier findings by economist Lucas Chancel, who, in 2022, demonstrated that in 2019, the top 10% of earners were responsible for 48% of global greenhouse gas emissions, while the poorest 50% accounted for just 12%. The new analysis goes further by linking the financial activities of the affluent—such as investments in carbon-intensive industries—to tangible increases in climate-related disasters.
A new piece in Le Monde highlights research that claims the wealthiest 10% of the world are responsible for two-thirds of the problem of global warming. That’s right—nearly a billion people now painted as the climate villains. The implication? If you have financial assets, travel, or invest in the market, you’re complicit.
Let’s be clear: this is not about science. This is a political narrative. It’s grievance politics dressed up in climate data, and it targets capitalism itself.
Rather than focusing on scalable energy solutions—like nuclear power, advanced natural gas, or modernizing air travel with more efficient fuels—we’re being told that “investment portfolios” are somehow a root cause of ecological collapse. Not dirty grids in developing countries. Not China’s coal dependency. Your retirement fund.
They’re calling it “double inequality”: the idea that the rich both pollute more and are less vulnerable to climate impacts. But that framing skips over the obvious. Market economies are also the only systems capable of funding the technological breakthroughs we need to adapt and transition—efficient energy, carbon capture, and innovation-driven decoupling from emissions.
What this really is: an attack on affluence, productivity, and aspiration. If you build, invest, or create, you are now framed as guilty by default.
No serious climate policy will come from shaming success. We need realism, not redistribution wrapped in ecological panic