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

A plane flies over a slum in Parañaque, Metro Manila, the Philippines. Energy use, including air travel, is a substantial driver of the climate crisis. Photograph: Francis R Malasig/EPA View image in fullscreen A plane flies over a slum in Parañaque, Metro Manila, the Philippines. Energy use, including air travel, is a substantial driver of the climate crisis. Photograph: Francis R Malasig/EPA ‘Mega-consumers’ of food and energy cost environment $5.7tn a year, study finds Top 10% generate climate and biodiversity damage bill that exceeds economies of most countries, say researchers The environmental damage bill racked up -consuming 10% of the world’s population has reached up to $5.7tn a year – larger than the economy of every country except the US and China, a study has found. Mega-consumers in this group are concentrated in the global north, accounting for more than half the population of the US and 40-45% of people in the EU. The damage tally, which one researcher described as “bonkers”, also exceeds global funding gaps for tackling the climate and biodiversity crises, highlighting how economic priorities remain skewed towards running down the Earth’s life-support systems. The most destructive forms of consumption were linked to two main areas: food – particularly red meat, a primary driver of deforestation – and energy, including flights and heating and cooling homes, which typically rely on burning of fossil fuels, such as gas, oil and coal. The $5.7tn figure, published in a paper , was calculated , biodiversity loss, nutrient pollution and freshwater use. View image in fullscreen A lone tree stands in a deforested area of the Amazon rainforest. Photograph: Raphael Alves/AFP/Getty ImagesThe study found that the average annual environmental damage bill for someone in the global top 10% ranged from $2,300 to $7,500. This figure rose to $19,000-$63,000 for those in the US. High-consuming households in emerging economies are catching up. The average environmental damage bill for the top 10% in China has overtaken that of the top 10% in Germany, the report says. Biodiversity loss accounted for the largest share of the global damage bill, making up 47-56% of the total. The climate emergency was responsible for a further 36-45%. The authors said the findings strengthened the case for addressing the biodiversity and climate crises together, rather than treating them as separate policy challenges. The paper, published on Thursday in Communications Sustainability, cautions that the true environmental cost . The calculations cover only four of nine planetary boundaries and reflect direct consumption alone, excluding the likely greater impacts of investments.