‘Mega-consumers’ of food and energy cost environment $5.7tn a year, study finds

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The study, by researchers at Oxford and Leiden and published in Communications Sustainability, covers only four of nine planetary boundaries, excludes the emissions tied to wealthy individuals’ investments, and finds that biodiversity loss accounts for the largest share of the damage (47–56%), followed by climate disruption (36–45%). The highest-consuming 10% of the world’s population—who account for over half the US population and 40–45% of the EU’s—average $2,300–$7,500 in environmental damage per person annually, rising to $19,000–$63,000 in the United States; China’s top 10% have overtaken Germany’s in average damage.