The world’s richest 10% of consumers are costing Earth trillions of dollars in environmental damage every year, according to a new study published in Communications Sustainability.
The wealthiest tenth of the global population caused between $1.7 trillion and $5.7 trillion in harm in 2017 alone, the research found.
The study was led by Inge Schrijver of the Institute of Environmental Sciences at Leiden University in the Netherlands.
Researchers calculated the cost by putting a price tag on damage linked to climate change, biodiversity loss, nitrogen and phosphorus pollution, and freshwater use. They relied on the Environmental Prices Handbook 2024 to convert environmental harm into dollar figures.
Wealthy Americans face far higher damage bills
On a per-person basis, each member of the global top 10% caused between $2,300 and $7,500 in damage.
The bill looked very different depending on where people lived. Wealthy consumers in the United States faced the highest costs, racking up between $19,000 and $63,000 each.
That amount equals 6% to 20% of their income, or up to 3% of their wealth. By contrast, top earners in India caused far less damage, between $410 and $1,400 per person, reflecting lower consumption levels.
Biodiversity loss turned out to be the biggest driver of the damage bill, making up 47% to 56% of the total. Climate change followed closely, accounting for 36% to 45%.
Nitrogen pollution added another 6% to 8%, while water use and phosphorus pollution each contributed less than 2%.
Damage bill already outpaces global financing targets
Researchers compared their findings to existing financial targets. The lower estimate for the United States alone already matches the $675 billion needed annually for global biodiversity protection through 2030.
The country’s central damage estimate also exceeds the nearly $1 trillion a year that nations agreed to spend on climate action by 2035 at the COP30 summit.
The study’s authors argued that taxing the environmental damage caused by wealthy consumers could fund climate and conservation programs. They noted that such policies could also reduce inequality, especially if revenue gets redirected to lower-income households.
World’s richest consumers are costing the Earth trillions annually
The researchers cautioned that their estimates likely understate the true cost, since the analysis left out several other planetary boundaries, including ocean acidification and land-system change, due to a lack of available data and pricing.
The findings add fresh pressure on policymakers to target the spending habits of the wealthiest consumers as a key strategy in addressing both climate change and biodiversity loss.
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