Read reports, briefs and papers based on our data

The inequality-emissions link and what it means for the 1.5°C goal (Brief)
A 2020 analysis of carbon dioxide emissions by SEI and Oxfam showed that the richest 10% of the global population are responsible for 46% of the emissions growth between 1990 and 2015. Incorporating countries’ pledges to reduce their emissions (known as Nationally Determined Contributions, known as NDCs), SEI provided the foundational calculations that informed a 2021 report projecting the emissions of different income groups in 2030. This note details the methods underlying these estimates.
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The Carbon Inequality Era (Report)
This paper examines the starkly different contributions of different income groups to carbon emissions from 1990–2015. It draws on new data that provides much-improved insight into global and national income inequality and national consumption emissions to provide an analysis relating emissions to income levels for the populations of 117 countries. Future scenarios of carbon inequality are also presented based on different possible trajectories of economic growth and carbon emissions.
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