Richest 1pc's emissions twice that of poorest 50pc

PARIS: The richest one percent of people are responsible for more than twice as much carbon pollution as the poorest half of the world's population -- 3.1 billion people -- new research showed Monday.

An analysis led by Oxfam showed that between 1990 and 2015, when annual emissions ballooned 60 percent, that rich nations were responsible for depleting nearly a third of Earth's carbon budget.

The carbon budget is the limit of cumulative greenhouse gas emissions mankind may produce before rendering catastrophic temperature rises unavoidable. Just 63 million people -- the "one percent" -- took up nine percent of the carbon budget since 1990, research conducted for Oxfam by the Stockholm Environment Institute found.