Study estimates top 10% of global consumers cause up to $5.7 trillion in annual environmental damage

Thursday, June 18, 2026Science & ClimateWell-covered4 frames

Researchers from Leiden University and the University of Oxford published a study in Communications Sustainability estimating that the top 10% of global consumers cause $1.7 trillion to $5.7 trillion in environmental damage per year through their consumption.
The study links the largest shares of the estimated damage bill to biodiversity loss and climate change.
The researchers say the top 10% of consumers are unevenly distributed globally, with about 60% of them living in the US and the EU.
According to the study, more than half of the US population and about 40-45% of the EU population fall within the highest-consuming 10% globally.
The study estimates average annual environmental damages of $2,300 to $7,500 per person for the global top 10% of consumers.
The paper says the estimated annual damages from the top 10% exceed international climate and biodiversity financing gaps, which the authors present as a reason to focus mitigation efforts on high-consuming groups.
The study monetized selected consumption-based environmental footprints, including climate change, biodiversity loss, nitrogen and phosphorus pollution, and freshwater use, rather than every planetary boundary.

How left and right are reading this

Both agree: A small, disproportionately wealthy slice of global consumers is linked to an outsized environmental damage bill, with biodiversity loss and climate change driving much of it and the concentration falling heavily in the US and the EU.
They split on: Less a disagreement than a question of emphasis: the case for targeting high-consuming groups because their damage exceeds major financing gaps, versus the study’s own limits because it monetized selected footprints rather than every planetary boundary.

Researchers from Leiden University and the University of Oxford published a study in Communications Sustainability estimating that the top 10% of global consumers cause $1.7 trillion to $5.7 trillion in environmental damage per year through their consumption.
The study links the largest shares of the estimated damage bill to biodiversity loss and climate change.
The researchers say the top 10% of consumers are unevenly distributed globally, with about 60% of them living in the US and the EU.
According to the study, more than half of the US population and about 40-45% of the EU population fall within the highest-consuming 10% globally.
The study estimates average annual environmental damages of $2,300 to $7,500 per person for the global top 10% of consumers.
The paper says the estimated annual damages from the top 10% exceed international climate and biodiversity financing gaps, which the authors present as a reason to focus mitigation efforts on high-consuming groups.
The study monetized selected consumption-based environmental footprints, including climate change, biodiversity loss, nitrogen and phosphorus pollution, and freshwater use, rather than every planetary boundary.

Facts first. Then every angle.