The Know Daily - Monday 20 November 2023

_{Read in 5m 14s ∙ Listening to The Bangles}

Due to high demand, we’ve released 10 more tickets for our “pub” quiz this Wednesday evening at AllBright’s gorgeous space in central London (the price includes a welcome drink and everyone will leave with an incredible prize). Come with friends or solo - we can’t wait to meet our readers IRL 🥰

Deforestation in Colombia’s Amazon is forecast to have fallen by 70% in the first nine months of 2023, according to the country’s environment minister. The government, which came to power in August last year, has introduced policies such as “paying locals to care for forests” and “targeting criminals financing environmental crimes”, said Reuters.

🌏 Climate inequality 

The richest 1% of humanity is responsible for more carbon emissions than the poorest 66%, according to a new report by Oxfam published today. 

Go on…
The 1% is comprised of 77 million people globally, including “billionaires, millionaires and those paid more than £112,500 a year”, said The Guardian. This elite group accounted for 16% of all CO2 emissions in 2019 - which is the same as the emissions of two-thirds of the world’s population, the report concluded. 

To put this into perspective, the report’s authors said it would take about 1,500 years for someone in the bottom 99% to produce as much carbon as the richest billionaires do in a year.

Who is most impacted? 
“Women and girls, Indigenous Peoples, people living in poverty and other groups experiencing discrimination are particularly at a disadvantage,” said Oxfam. These groups are less likely to have “savings, insurance or social protection”, added The Guardian, “which leaves them more economically, as well as physically, at risk from floods, drought, heatwaves and forest fires”.

What is Oxfam calling for?
The charity is demanding that governments address the “twin crises” of climate change and inequality by taxing the super-rich harder and implementing windfall taxes on fossil fuel companies.

This would help support the people worst affected by climate change, reduce inequality and fund a transition to renewable energy, the report argues.

What else is going on?
The publication of the report comes just 10 days ahead of the UN COP28 climate summit in Dubai, where climate justice will be “high on the agenda”, said The Guardian.

The question of a “loss and damage” fund - which would see the world’s wealthiest nations provide support to countries most affected by climate change - dominated last year’s summit. The UN highlighted at the time that the African continent “contributes the least to climate change yet is the most vulnerable to its impacts”. 

The fund is now set to be launched during this year’s summit, with the EU already having pledged a “substantial” contribution, said Reuters.