Carbon Inequality

This book studies the role that the richest people’s personal consumption plays in contributing to climate change and biodiversity loss, and it explores strategies for reducing the personal carbon footprint of High Net Worth Individuals (HNWIs) in the United States, Japan, Germany, China, United Kingdom and France.

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With a specific focus on the United States and the United Kingdom, Carbon Inequality studies the role of the richest people in contributing to climate change via their luxury consumption and their investments. In an innovative contribution, it attempts to quantify personal responsibility for shareholdings in large fossil fuel companies.

This book explores the implications of the richest people’s historic responsibility for global warming, the impacts of which affect them less than most others in global society. Kenner analyses how the richest people running large oil and gas companies have successfully used their political influence to lobby the US and UK government. This assessment of their growing political power is particularly pertinent at a time of increasing inequality and growing public awareness of the impact of climate change. The book also highlights the crucial role of the richest in blocking the low-carbon transition in the US and the UK, exploring how this could be countered to ensure fossil fuels are fully replaced by renewable energy.

This book will be of great relevance to scholars and policy makers with an interest in inequality, climate change and sustainability transitions.