A more equal distribution of limited resources and ecological space

The paper examines how the unequal consumption of natural resources and the global carbon budget reinforces systemic inequality and accelerates climate change. It argues that current environmental frameworks, such as the planetary boundaries and the Paris Agreement, often fail to allocate responsibility equitably or address the colonial legacies of the global economic system. The authors call for a transformation of global governance to include marginalized voices and Indigenous knowledge systems, shifting away from a growth-dependent economic model toward one rooted in social justice and cultural reflexivity.

• Resource consumption is highly skewed, with the wealthiest 10% of the global population responsible for 52% of cumulative carbon emissions between 1990 and 2015, while the poorest 50% contributed only 7%. This disproportionate use has depleted the global carbon budget for the 1.5°C target by approximately 31%.
• There is a systemic appropriation of resources from the Global South to the Global North. In 2015, this net appropriation was valued at 242 trillion constant 2010 USD, encompassing 12 billion tons of raw materials, 822 million hectares of land, 21 exajoules of energy, and 188 million person-years of labour.
• Inequality and climate change are bidirectionally linked: unsustainable resource consumption by the wealthy drives the climate crisis, while the resulting environmental impacts disproportionately affect the most oppressed and vulnerable communities, further exacerbating existing inequalities.
• Existing global environmental frameworks, including planetary boundaries, the global carbon budget, and Doughnut Economics, provide 'safe' environmental ceilings but lack guidance on how to equitably allocate responsibility between different countries or social groups.
• The Paris Agreement and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are criticized for framing the climate transition as a technological challenge of reducing carbon quantities rather than addressing the unequal power structures and colonial legacies of the economic system.
• Effective climate solutions require the inclusion of Indigenous and marginalized knowledge systems, which are currently often silenced or exploited. The authors note that nearly 87% of climate research by outsiders uses Indigenous knowledge without acknowledging the active participation of those communities.

APA

Nazareth, A., & Ghosh, E. (2022). A more equal distribution of limited resources and ecological space. Stockholm Environment Institute. https://www.sei.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/equal-distribution-stockholm50backgroundpapers.pdf

Chicago

Nazareth, Anisha, and Emily Ghosh. A more equal distribution of limited resources and ecological space. Stockholm Environment Institute, 2022. https://www.sei.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/equal-distribution-stockholm50backgroundpapers.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Nazareth |first1=Anisha |last2=Ghosh |first2=Emily |title=A more equal distribution of limited resources and ecological space |publisher=Stockholm Environment Institute |date=May 2022 |url=https://www.sei.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/equal-distribution-stockholm50backgroundpapers.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{nazareth2022more, author = {Nazareth, Anisha and Ghosh, Emily}, title = {{A more equal distribution of limited resources and ecological space}}, institution = {Stockholm Environment Institute}, year = {2022}, month = may, url = {https://www.sei.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/equal-distribution-stockholm50backgroundpapers.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }