What is PROHIBLUX?

Photo de Markus Spiske sur Unsplash

PROHIBLUX is a climate justice project based at the Hoover Chair in Economic and Social Ethics at UCLouvain (Belgium) and is funded by a Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA) individual grant from the European Union. The holder of the grant is Fausto Corvino.

PROHIBLUX's premises: Carbon inequality

A small number of people at the top of the global wealth pyramid have a disproportionately large carbon footprint compared to everyone else. On average, people emit around 6.6 tonnes of CO₂ equivalent (tCO₂e) per year. However, members of the top 0.1% of the world's population have an average carbon footprint of over 450 tCO₂e per year. Moreover, their combined emissions account for over 7% of global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, which is more than the emissions from the entire global aviation and shipping sectors combined. This exclusive club comprises just over 8 million people, who are geographically dispersed around the world. The poorest among them have less than $3 million in economic assets (World Inequality Report 2022). Nearly two-thirds of the emissions from the top 0.1% of emitters are due to investment activities. The rest mainly result from personal consumption, much of which comes from owning and using private jets, motor yachts, large houses and high-emission road vehicles. Of course, the higher up the global wealth pyramid we go, the more staggering these figures become. For instance, some billionaires' consumption emissions (excluding investments!) have been estimated at 10,000 tCO₂e per year (Barros and Wilk 2021).

On the one hand, the emissions of the very rich are an obstacle to ambitious climate mitigation compatible with the objectives of the Paris Agreement (UNFCCC 2015), recently reaffirmed in the Dubai Stocktake (UNFCCC 2023), to limit the increase in global warming to between 1.5 °C and 2 °C above pre-industrial levels. On the other hand, the emissions of the very rich raise serious distributional issues in terms of managing a scarce carbon budget, i.e. the sustainable emissions compatible with the above mitigation targets. For example, the consumption emissions of the world's top 0.1% are 77 times higher than the global average per capita emissions that would need to be achieved by 2030 to meet the Paris goals, while the emissions of the poorest 50% of the world's population (living mainly in developing and emerging countries) are already below this sustainable average, and those of the middle 40% (living in large numbers also in developed countries) are only twice the sustainable average (Stockhom Environment Institute 2023). We can also say that the emissions of the very rich are so disproportionate compared to the rest of the world's population that if everyone else disappeared, this global elite of 8 million people alone would consume the carbon budget compatible with the 1.5 C target by the end of this century (see Lamboll et al. 2023).

PROHIBLUX's objectives

PROHIBLUX has three main objectives. The first objective is to examine whether the scale and consequences of carbon inequality justify adopting a mix of climate mitigation policies that target the emissions of the very rich differently from those of everyone else – for example, by going beyond the idea of a uniform carbon price, which can do little to change the carbon-intensive behaviour of high net worth individuals. The second objective is to explore what climate policy mix can mitigate the emissions of the global rich in a way that is fair to all stakeholders (taking into account criteria such as emissions justice, expressive justice, social efficiency, legitimate expectations, feasibility and the prevention of carbon leakage). The third objective is to consider whether and how the carbon footprints and investment decisions of the ultra-wealthy should factor into the fair burden-sharing in international climate finance, i.e. cross-border public finance for climate action on more or less concessional terms..

PROHIBLUX's website

The PROHIBLUX website aims to contribute to the public debate on carbon inequality, subsistence vs. luxury emissions, and the climate responsibility of the global rich. For further information, please see the About page.