Climate change cannot be separated from social and economic inequality. In addition to the fact that capitalism is fueled by the mass consumption of fossil fuels, the global economic inequality created by capitalist practices has left poor countries at a disadvantage. Economic output in warm countries like India and Nigeria has fallen as temperatures rise due to crop failures or extreme weather events that destroy crops and resources. At the same time, as overall temperatures rise, the economic output of richer countries in colder climates like Norway and the United Kingdom has increased. This has clearly widened the global economic gap between rich and poor nations. Poorer countries are also having a harder time recovering from extreme weather events caused by climate change, without the resources that rich countries have. With many developing countries located in climate risk zones, people in low- and lower-middle-income countries are five times more likely to be displaced by extreme weather events than people in high-income countries. Even on a smaller scale, marginalized communities are most affected by climate change due to inequalities in race, gender, and class, a fact that climate policy often overlooks.

(ANTONIA KLADIAS)