Study finds wealthy nations responsible for 74% of global ecological damage
Researchers quantify national responsibility for ecological breakdown across 160 countries over the past 50 years
A study published in the journal Lancet Planetary Health, co-authored by the DEAL Team's Andrew Fanning with Jason Hickel, Dan O'Neill, and Huzaifa Zoomkawala, has found that high-income countries, such as the United Kingdom and the United States, bear the overwhelming responsibility for global ecological breakdown.
In the report, entitled 'National responsibility for ecological breakdown: a fair-shares assessment of resource use', the research team analyses 160 countries and quantifies how much responsibility each country bears for the ecological damage caused by excess use of materials - such as metals, minerals, fossil fuels and biomass - between 1970 and 2017.
The analysis is underpinned by a core concept shared with the Doughnut, namely that the planet’s resources and ecosystems are a commons – a natural shared wealth – and that all people are entitled to a fair share within sustainable levels.
The researchers found that high-income countries, which represent only 16% of the world's population, are responsible for 74% of cumulative resource overshoot worldwide, driven primarily by the USA (27%) and the EU-28 high-income countries (25%). These countries urgently need to reduce their levels of resource use — by over 70 per cent — to avoid further degradation and to live within their fair shares.
China is responsible for 15% of global resource overshoot, and the rest of the Global South (i.e. the low-income and middle-income countries of Latin America and the Caribbean, Africa, the Middle East, and Asia) is responsible for only 8%.
The analysis is underpinned by a core concept shared with the Doughnut, namely that the planet’s resources and ecosystems are a commons – a natural shared wealth – and that all people are entitled to a fair share within sustainable levels.
The researchers found that high-income countries, which represent only 16% of the world's population, are responsible for 74% of cumulative resource overshoot worldwide, driven primarily by the USA (27%) and the EU-28 high-income countries (25%). These countries urgently need to reduce their levels of resource use — by over 70 per cent — to avoid further degradation and to live within their fair shares.
China is responsible for 15% of global resource overshoot, and the rest of the Global South (i.e. the low-income and middle-income countries of Latin America and the Caribbean, Africa, the Middle East, and Asia) is responsible for only 8%.
Want to see how your country compares? In the spirit of reciprocity and enriching the commons, Andrew has created a set of interactive charts visualising country-level results from this study below (also hosted at the interactive website he maintains at https://goodlife.leeds.ac.uk/ with data available to download and alongside more doughnut-related visualisations - do dive in!).
Explore and compare national resource use with respect to fair shares by selecting a country/region from the drop-down menus below, and hover/tap within the charts to see indicator-specific values for that year.
Explore and compare national resource use with respect to fair shares by selecting a country/region from the drop-down menus below, and hover/tap within the charts to see indicator-specific values for that year.
Read the study:
Explore the interactive webpage:
Further information:
Coverage in The Guardian: 'US and Europe behind majority of global ecological damage, says study'
Photo credit: Matthew de Livera on Unsplash
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