Wealthy white men from rural areas are the UK’s biggest emitters of climate-heating gases from transport, according to a study.

Research by the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) looked at transport emissions by income, gender, location, ethnicity and age. The study broke down the transport emissions into international and domestic flights, private road transport and public transport.

The richest 0.1% in Britain emit 22 times more from transport than low earners, and 12 times more than average. The data finds that income is directly linked to levels of mobility, with people who earn more than £100,000 travelling on average at least double the distance each year compared with those on incomes under £30,000.

Those in the most deprived 10% are responsible for by far the fewest emissions, though flying still makes up more than half of their total emissions.

  • @[email protected]
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    4429 days ago

    Wealthy non-whites don’t cause as much transport pollution as their melanin-lacking counterparts?

    • Flying SquidM
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      4029 days ago

      Oddly enough, it looks like the Guardian is the only one making this expressly about white men. I’m guessing demographically speaking, white men are the majority when it comes to transport pollution by rich people because the majority of rich people are white men.

      • @[email protected]
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        29 days ago

        Unfortunately bringing race into stuff still attracts more clicks from conservative and/or non-caucasian cohorts, in this case. The “rich white male” and “white privilege” stereotypes are just positive racism that’s sadly still kicking around for this reason, despite the majority of people obviously not sharing any of the traits since birth, as if they get to decide that part of their life anyway. But we do see it a lot less, which makes me wonder who’s going to be targeted by “racism, not racism” next. Hopefully never anything again like people from Muslim nations copped a couple decades ago. Thanks, media.

    • applepie
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      829 days ago

      they do but the headline would less click baiting if just said rich parasites are destroying the world…

      90% of people would ask… does the bear shit in the woods?

      But now we can do a circle jerk about some poor losers’ “white pride” feelz being hurt.

      Cheers!

      • @[email protected]
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        329 days ago

        You are in for quite a treat if you ever get to live in the world without being so ignorsntly racist. It truly is a much better place when wipe that shit off of your heart. We are all one big family, hating people because of how they were born hurts nobody as much as it hurts you.

        • applepie
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          729 days ago

          Nobody is hating anybody here besides u being butthurt it seems

          • @[email protected]
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            229 days ago

            Your sole reason for commenting was to spew racist hate in the hopes that some like-minded degenerate would come along and agree with you. Maybe you did this so you might feel a little bit less alone in the world. What actually happened, though, is I shed some light on why it is that you feel so alone. It’s because you look down on people for things that they can’t help. It’s OK if people are born into situations that are different from your own. If you start to embrace people’s differences instead of fearing and hating them, you will find yourself in a much happier place.

    • @Worx
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      129 days ago

      Since when are farmers wealthy?

      • applepie
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        829 days ago

        are you still buying narrative of broke farmer?

        Farmer in modern advanced economy is a large land owner who operates an enterprise at scale with sizable state aid funded by taxpayers.

        Side note, not to diminish their issues with mega food corps…

        But these are not “small” players and they are certainly not part of the working slave classes.

        • @Worx
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          829 days ago

          I live in a rural area and know a lot of farmers (meat, dairy and veg), none of whom are wealthy. Several don’t own land, but have to rent it instead. Those that do own land tend to be asset-rich but don’t actually have cash (as in, they own land and farm equipment, but they can’t sell it because then they wouldn’t be able to keep working). Maybe it’s different in other parts of the country, but around here people are struggling. We also have the issue of banks and other large corporations buying up land to plant with timber as carbon offsets, rather than putting in work to reduce their carbon footprint.

      • guyrocket
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        529 days ago

        I am sure some farmers are rich.

        I am also sure that farmers, like almost any other large group, have a wide range of incomes.

  • @[email protected]
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    429 days ago

    Jeremy Clarkson seen measuring his cemetery plot to ensure he has enough room to spin in it

  • AutoTL;DRB
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    229 days ago

    This is the best summary I could come up with:


    Wealthy white men from rural areas are the UK’s biggest emitters of climate-heating gases from transport, according to a study.

    They emit more from driving, probably reflecting the reliance on private transport in many rural areas, which are often less well served by buses and trains.

    The study broke emissions down between “white British” and “non-white British” and found that per capita, white people tended to emit more through flights and private transport, and slightly less than non-white people on public transport.

    Maya Singer Hobbs, a senior research fellow at the IPPR, said: “Reducing emissions can actually tackle some of that injustice, if done fairly.

    Stephen Frost, a principal research fellow at the IPPR, said the study demonstrated who was best placed to cut their emissions and how to tackle the “underlying unfairness in who the transport system currently works for”.

    The next UK government must step up the pace by delivering a credible, fair and people-focused plan for more sustainable travel.”


    The original article contains 456 words, the summary contains 162 words. Saved 64%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!