Irish Examiner view: Richest 1% also part of the polluter elite
The 1%, made up of 77m people who are billionaires, millionaires, or who earn over $140,000 (€128,000), were responsible for 5.9bn tonnes of CO2 in 2019 alone.
The seemingly never-ending disparity between the haves and the have-nots of this world has come into even sharper focus recently, with the revelation that the richest 1% account for more carbon emissions than 66% of its poorest people.
This unseemly discrepancy is bad enough when you consider the wealth gap between the super-rich and those in abject poverty, but when it becomes clear that we not only have a monetary elite but also a polluter elite, then the need to find solutions becomes imperative.
A comprehensive study of global climate inequality, undertaken by Oxfam amongst others, has highlighted the causes and consequences of carbon inequality and brought into sharp focus the disproportionate impact wealthy global elites are having on the world’s most vulnerable.
This study pinpointed how the 1% live climate-insulated lives and accounted for 16% of all CO2 emissions in 2019, which made them responsible for immense suffering and for causing as many as one million deaths due to heat.
Those 1%, made up of 77m people who are billionaires, millionaires, or who earn over $140,000 (€128,000), were responsible for 5.9bn tonnes of CO2 in 2019 alone.
With climate justice high on the agenda of the UN Cop28 Summit in the entirely inappropriate setting, the UAE, later this month, it is imperative that reasoned and rational discussion take place as to how this polluter elite can curb emissions and pay reparations.
In the period between 1990 and 2019, the accumulative emissions of this 1% were equivalent to wiping out the entire harvest of US wheat, Bangladeshi rice, Chinese soya beans, and EU corn. It would take 1,500 years for anyone in the remaining 99% to produce as much carbon.
This is a case of twin crises, with inequality and climate each appearing to fuel the other, and if the world is to properly address the issue, both will have to be tackled.
Hefty wealth taxes on the super-rich and windfall taxes on fossil fuel companies would be a good starting point and would begin the process of allowing the world transform its chances of tackling both inequality and climate issues.
Far-right rise in Milei’s victory
Some observers maintain the triumph of Javier Milei in Sunday’s Argentinean presidential election run-off was a “victory of anger over fear”, as the right-wing political rookie promises to reverse decades of financial mismanagement and ongoing social upheaval — with a raft of what have been termed “dangerous” policies.
Milei’s election promise to dissolve the country’s central bank, dollarize the economy, and cut the number of government ministries from 18 to eight are seen by many — both internally and externally — as wild and unprecedented.
But the vote is also being seen as a cri de coeur from the 46m Argentineans who cast their ballots — and a rejection of the policies of the centre-left administration which have caused rampant inflation, the collapse of the peso, and an economic situation which has seen 40% of the population designated as being in poverty.
Milei is 53 years old and has never had any experience of governing; as a former economist and television pundit, he has come from nowhere to oust a political elite which has been in power for each of the 40 years since Argentina’s return to democracy, after the fall of its military dictatorship.
Although his election was predicably welcomed by many right-wing iconoclasts — Donald Trump, Jair Bolsonaro, and their ilk — many others are now predicting the speedy death of Argentine democracy and the country’s way of life.
The Milei presidency will bring the far-right to power in Latin America’s third-largest economy. It could have wider implications for the region, in general, where China has growing influence.
Having cast doubt on the widely accepted numbers of those murdered by “The Generals” between 1976-1983, called Pope Francis “evil”, described climate change as a “socialist lie”, and promised to hold a referendum to ban abortion, wild times appear certain under Milei’s rule.
Midleton's fighting spirit
Just over a month ago, the people of flood-ravaged Midleton in Co Cork were casting a very jaundiced eye on the prospect of the Christmas season.
With up to €200m of damage caused to shops, businesses and homes — not to mention roads, bridges, and other infrastructure — the townspeople had every right to feel depressed and downtrodden after the Owenacurra and Dungourney rivers burst their banks during Storm Babet.
But, with a resilience born of fortitude, determination, and no little assistance from the authorities in terms of both financial aid and physical assistance, the townspeople have gathered themselves in an inspiring way.
The old cliché that, in times of trouble, there will always be light at the end of the tunnel is very fitting in the case of Midleton and the surrounding villages and hamlets also inundated when a month’s rain fall in a 24-hour period.
In this instance, however, there were thousands of lights at the end of Midelton’s tunnel as the town marked the start of its Christmas shopping period by turning on its festive lights on Sunday last. To witness the gleam in the eyes of the town’s children as those lights came on was the physical evidence of the unified fortitude of all those affected by the flooding and their determination to overcome the difficulties they had to face, and will continue to deal with for months to come.
Even at a time when retail businesses are facing tough times, Midleton and its citizens have demonstrated a unity of purpose and a fighting spirit which can only be admired and applauded.
