Exploring the Links Between Poverty & Climate Change

This blog is the first in a series of 3 by our Policy Volunteer Molly Coyle. Molly is a PhD student at the University of Glasgow. Her research takes an intersectional approach to improving working-class diversity and inclusion in environmentalism in the UK. Watch out for her next blog coming in November!

Poverty and Climate Change: A Dual Crisis

In 2023 over one million (nearly 1 in 5) people in Scotland still live in poverty, and around a quarter of these are children. Of these one million people, nearly half are in what we call “deep poverty.” Looking around the world there are approximately 712 million people in poverty. Whilst the number of people in poverty had been generally reducing worldwide, the COVID-19 pandemic led to millions more people falling below the poverty line.

However, COVID-19 is not the only factor increasing poverty around the world, with climate change impeding poverty reduction, it has the potential to be a major threat in the years to come. In fact, research has estimated that climate change could push between 32 and 132 million more people into poverty by 2030, compared to a climate-stable world.

This is already happening, with millions of households being pushed into, or trapped in poverty by natural disasters every year. For example, there are countries across Africa and Latin America facing higher temperatures which are in turn reducing their productivity and reducing their economic growth. However, these countries which are facing the highest levels of poverty and climate impacts, are also those who are contributing least to the climate crisis. It has been found that the world’s richest 10% cause 50% of the world’s emissions, whereas the poorest 50% were responsible for just 7% of emissions (between 1995 and 2020).

Climate Risks and Poverty in the UK

Looking at the UK, poorer households are already more likely to live in areas with greater climate risks like pollution or flooding but have the least means to protect themselves against them. For instance, low-income households are eight times more likely to live on a floodplain (with greater flood risks), but the average cost of being flooded is £50,000 per home. Turning to pollution, people who live in more deprived areas are more likely to live in neighbourhoods with higher air pollution, and as such are at higher risk for negative health impacts.

This shows that people in poverty are facing the greatest risks as a result of climate change but that they have the least resources to take action to prevent and protect themselves from these climate risks. Whilst being the least responsible for the crises to begin with.

Not only do they have the least resources to protect themselves from direct risk but they also have to take the many climate actions individuals are being told to do. From flying less to taking public transport over driving or shopping at zero waste stores, there are a plethora of responsibilities being placed on us to reduce our carbon footprint and help tackle climate change. But these actions are only possible if people can afford them.

The Cost of Climate Actions for Low-Income Families

There has been a big push to take trains, buses, or ferries when going on our holidays abroad to reduce the carbon impact of flying. However, in 2023 Greenpeace found that flying is still cheaper than taking the train in Europe. When households are struggling to pay their bills, and do their food shops but want (and should have!) the opportunity to take their family on a holiday, flying is often the only affordable option.

Or looking at getting public transport over driving, many deprived communities have inadequate public transport, and driving may be the only feasible way for them to get to work, take their children to school, or access facilities like shops or GPs – which is all especially true for rural communities. Considering people in poverty have less time already, due to potentially working longer or unreliable hours, they cannot always rely on buses or trains which are currently not showing up, being delayed, or too full.

Across the news, social media, from politicians and environmental organisations we are being told to take these individual actions. But they are not accessible for huge amounts of people in Scotland, as they require time and money that people in poverty do not have to give. Public transport only cuts down on carbon emissions if the routes, timetables and services are reliable to those who need to travel to their work. Or choosing organic food only works if there's a local, accessible shop that sells it, and if it’s not significantly more expensive than the non-organic options.

People in poverty are dealing with numerous decisions, priorities and challenges every single day, and being told to cut down on their meat consumption is not always going to be their number one priority, and it shouldn’t be.

What Needs to Be Done

So, what do we need to do?

We need to develop strategies that address poverty and climate change at the same time, we can’t solve one without the other.
We need to recognise that people in poverty are contributing least to the climate crisis but are being impacted most.
We need to make sure these strategies include climate actions that we can all work together to do, instead of placing blame or shame on those who can’t.
We need to work on the underlying issues stopping people in poverty from being able to make certain climate-friendly decisions, help the planet, and support people in Scotland to come out of poverty.
We need to make sure that those at the top who are contributing most to the climate crisis are being made to take action alongside our individual actions to make the greatest positive impact on our planet.

In doing all this, we can continue to move our world towards a fairer, more just, and more sustainable future.

2050 Climate Group10 October 2024Policy, economy, Blog, wellbeing