How Inequality Fuels Climate Change: The Climate Case for a Green New Deal

The research by CSSN Scholars Fergus Green and Noel Healy asserts that socioeconomic inequalities actively fuel climate change by driving emissions-intensive production and consumption, enabling wealthy elites to obstruct policy, and weakening public support for collective action. The authors argue that integrating carbon-centric policies into a broader program of social, economic, and democratic reforms—such as those found in Green New Deal proposals—addresses these causal mechanisms and enables more effective political strategies for decarbonization.

• Socioeconomic inequalities contribute to climate change through four primary mechanisms: driving emissions-intensive consumption and production, allowing wealthy elites to obstruct climate policies, reducing public support for such policies, and weakening the social foundations necessary for collective action.
• A Green New Deal (GND) is presented as a more effective path to deep and rapid decarbonization than policies focused solely on carbon, because GND components target the causal links between inequality and climate change and support stronger political strategies.

APA

Green, F., & Healy, N. (2022). How Inequality Fuels Climate Change: The Climate Case for a Green New Deal. Climate Social Science Network. https://cssn.org/how-inequality-fuels-climate-change-the-climate-case-for-a-green-new-deal/

Chicago

Green, Fergus, and Noel Healy. How Inequality Fuels Climate Change: The Climate Case for a Green New Deal. Climate Social Science Network, 2022. https://cssn.org/how-inequality-fuels-climate-change-the-climate-case-for-a-green-new-deal/.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Green |first1=Fergus |last2=Healy |first2=Noel |title=How Inequality Fuels Climate Change: The Climate Case for a Green New Deal |publisher=Climate Social Science Network |date=14 July 2022 |url=https://cssn.org/how-inequality-fuels-climate-change-the-climate-case-for-a-green-new-deal/ |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{green2022how, author = {Green, Fergus and Healy, Noel}, title = {{How Inequality Fuels Climate Change: The Climate Case for a Green New Deal}}, institution = {Climate Social Science Network}, year = {2022}, month = jul, url = {https://cssn.org/how-inequality-fuels-climate-change-the-climate-case-for-a-green-new-deal/}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }