1st Edition
Carbon Inequality The Role of the Richest in Climate Change
Introduction: climate change and the role of the richest, 1 The carbon footprint of luxury consumption, 2 The investment emissions of the polluter elite, 3 The polluter elite and moral responsibility, 4 The decisive political influence of the polluter elite, 5 Destabilising the polluter elite, Conclusions, Appendix 1, Appendix 2, Index
Biography
Dario Kenner is a visiting fellow at the Global Sustainability Institute based at Anglia Ruskin University, UK. This book builds on his 2015 working paper Inequality of Overconsumption: the Ecological Footprint of the Richest, published by Anglia Ruskin University.
"Carbon Inequality is an important and powerful book. It calls attention to the disproportionate climate change impact of the rich based on their luxury consumption. Further, a 'polluter elite' is newly identified - wealthy people with significant fossil fuel shareholdings. The book highlights their moral responsibility for climate change and shows how their political influence slows the transition away from fossil fuels. It calls for this elite, and their support for oil and gas, to be destabilised. By challenging the power of the polluter elite, and presenting positive policy suggestions, this book is an original and persuasive response to the Climate Emergency." -- Tina Fawcett, Senior Researcher at the Environmental Change Institute, University of Oxford, UK
"All too often, public discussion about cutting fossil fuel consumption concentrates entirely on individual consumers. Dario Kenner’s thoroughly researched book shifts the focus to the rich and powerful elite that bears the main responsibility, and to the political and economic structures over which it presides." -- Simon Pirani, Senior Research Fellow, Oxford Institute for Energy Studies, UK
"Carbon Inequality marks an important step forward in our understanding of the ecological crisis as a political and economic crisis. In his book, Dario Kenner connects the dots between key drivers of climate change – conspicuous consumption, fossil fuel investment, and political influence over energy policy. At the centre of this web are wealthy individuals and corporations that have a disproportionate impact on our planetary crisis. Only by curtailing the destructive behaviour of this global ‘polluter elite’ can the many challenges of the Anthropocene be overcome." -- Kevin MacKay, social science professor, Canada, and author of Radical Transformation: Oligarchy, Collapse, and the Crisis of Civili
