UK’s wealthiest citizens may be rich with climate-positive potential

UK’s wealthiest citizens can invest in green tech, voice climate concerns and sow sustainable seeds among their networks to accelerate the country’s pursuit of net-zero carbon emissions, according to survey data published February 26, 2025 in the open-access journal PLOS Climate by Hettie Moorcroft from the University of Bath and colleagues. However, members of this population are unmotivated to sacrifice quality of life for carbon savings.

From 1990-2015, the world’s richest 10% produced more than 50% of global emissions — despite being the least affected by climate change. In the UK, the wealthiest households produce triple the poorest households’ emissions. Thus, researchers suggest a wealth-conscious approach is a fair, doable route to net-zero carbon emissions by 2050.

To reduce wealthy individuals’ disproportionate emissions, Moorcroft and colleagues examined the demographic’s responsibility, ability and desire to curb their carbon footprint. They launched a nationally representative online survey in April 2022. Forty-three wealthy participants and 993 non-wealthy participants took the survey and 16 wealthy participants were also interviewed.

Wealthy participants reported high consumption-based emissions relating to food, energy, shopping and transportation (e.g., flying frequently) but expressed low motivation to reduce consumption, preferring luxury, and the ability to keep up with social norms. However, the researchers identified three positive climate capabilities for this demographic: the means to invest in or purchase costly green technologies (e.g., electric vehicles); knowledge and a sense of urgency (if not culpability) about climate change and climate policy; and social and professional influence.

The researchers suggest galvanizing wealthy populations as climate action ambassadors; for example, normalizing EVs or rooftop solar. They also note that behavioral changes within wealthy communities will also be necessary to reach a net-zero carbon emission target: aligning carbon-conscious choices like train travel and local ecotourism with wellbeing rather than a lifestyle downgrade can help shift the social norm.

The authors add: “Despite high emissions, wealthy individuals could accelerate the transition to net zero in the UK.”

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In your coverage please use this URL to provide access to the freely available article in PLOS Climate: https://plos.io/4iidumB

Citation: Moorcroft H, Hampton S, Whitmarsh L (2025) Climate change and wealth: understanding and improving the carbon capability of the wealthiest people in the UK. PLOS Clim 4(3): e0000573. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pclm.0000573

Author Countries: United Kingdom

Funding: This research has been enabled by funding from the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) under grant references ES/V015133/1 (SH) and ES/S012257/1 (LW). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript. SH receives a salary from ESRC.