"It will be practically and politically impossible to close the emissions gap if governments don't cut the carbon footprint of the wealthy and end the inequalities which leave millions of people without access to power or unable to heat their homes."
The BBC article draws upon THIS: UN Environment Programme Emissions Gap Report 2020. Below are a few interesting concepts from the foreward by UNEP executive director Inger Anderson, and other spots, edited for brevity:
......While the report looks at the plans that governments have submitted to curb their CO2, it also examines the roles of lifestyles and consumption patterns of individuals…
...If the world wants to keep on track to restrict the rise in temperatures this century to 1.5C, then these high carbon footprints will need to be significantly curbed to around 2.5 tonnes of CO2 per capita by 2030… <big>for the top 10% of earners </big>[e.g., roughly the American upper middle class on up]<big>, this would mean cuts to around one tenth of their current level…. the richest will need* to rapidly cut their CO2 footprints to avoid dangerous warming this century...[but] For the poorest 50% of the world, that would actually mean an increase in their footprint by a factor of three.<big>⁉️</big></big>
...the global Covid-19 shutdown will have little long term impact on the climate...But a strong, green recovery could limit the rise in temperatures to 2C….
*one of the current routine fails of English as it is spoke, is imputing “need” to someone when it’s us who needs them to do whatever it is.
...The global top 10% of income earners use around 45% of all the energy consumed for land transport …
...Foregoing one long-haul international return flight could reduce your personal footprint by almost two tonnes of CO2….
...Around two-thirds of global emissions are linked to private households, when using consumption-based accounting. The mobility, residential and food sectors each contribute about 20 per cent of lifestyle emissions….
...There is a general tendency that rich countries have higher consumption-based emissions (emissions allocated to the country where goods are purchased and consumed, rather than where they are produced)…
...Governments must enable and encourage consumers to avoid high-carbon consumption. Possible actions include replacing domestic short haul flights with rail, incentives and infrastructure to enable cycling and car-sharing, improving energy efficiency of housing, renewable energy defaults from grid providers and policies to reduce food waste…
...There is a significant opportunity for countries to integrate low-carbon development in their COVID-19 rescue and recovery measures, and to incorporate these into new or updated NDCs and long-term mitigation strategies that are scheduled to be available in time for the reconvened twenty-sixth session of the Conference of the Parties (COP 26) in 2021...
United Nations Environment Programme Emissions Report 2020
UNEP DTU PARTNERSHIP EMISSIONS GAP REPORT 2020 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY