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The wealthiest drive the climate crisis through capital accumulation and investments in highly polluting industries, according to the 2025 Climate Inequality Report by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the French university Sciences Po, and the Paris School of Economics. 

In 2024, the climate crisis reached a tipping point: the World Meteorological Organization confirmed it as the hottest year on record, with a global average temperature 1.55°C above pre-industrial levels.

At the same time, global wealth grew by 4.6% in 2024, according to the 2025 Global Wealth Report, produced by Swiss bank UBS, which annually analyzes household wealth distribution worldwide. The report notes that the number of U.S. dollar millionaires increased by over 680,000 in 2024, reflecting growing concentration of wealth among the richest.

OjoPúblico also reviewed other studies linking global wealth distribution to the impacts of the climate crisis over the past year. Findings show that poorer countries and regions—including Latin America—bear the heaviest economic and human losses from global warming, while nations with more millionaires face far fewer direct effects.

DROUGHT. Rivers in the Amazon region have seen declining water levels, as observed in Peru’s Madre de Dios region.

Photo: Ojo Público / Aldair Mejía

Wealth decline in Latin America

UBS data reveals a strong concentration of global wealth: nearly half (48.1%) of identified personal wealth belongs to people with over USD 1 million. Most reside in North America, home to four in ten millionaires, followed by Western Europe with just over a quarter (26.2%). Latin America accounts for only 1.6% of the world’s millionaires. In the region, Brazil has the largest number (about 433,000), followed by Mexico with 399,000.

In 2024, the region’s wealth—measured in USD per adult—declined compared to 2023. Average wealth per adult stands at USD 34,694, the lowest among analyzed regions, below even Southeast Asia, the Middle East, and Africa. 

Carlos De los Ríos, lead economist at UNDP, told OjoPúblico that Latin Americans’ ability to face climate shocks “is closely linked to their socioeconomic conditions.” He explained that disadvantaged populations have fewer adaptation tools, which is evident in landslides and floods where the lack of protective infrastructure, limited savings, and scarce financing hinder recovery.

The new Climate Risk Index (CRI), published in November by German NGO Germanwatch, confirms that poor countries are hit hardest. The index—based on data from the Centre for Research on the Epidemiology of Disasters at Leuven University (Belgium), the World Bank, and the International Monetary Fund—measures exposure to extreme weather, considering economic losses, deaths, and affected populations.

Peru most affected in South America

Between 1995 and 2024, six of the ten most affected countries were lower-middle-income nations; none were high-income. Ten Latin American and Caribbean countries (Bahamas, Dominica, El Salvador, Grenada, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, Nicaragua, Puerto Rico, and the Dominican Republic) rank among the 25 most climate-vulnerable globally. 

In South America, Peru tops the list for the past 30 years, followed by Brazil (40), Bolivia (43), and Colombia (54).

Screenshot: Germanwatch

Gloria García-Parra, regional director of Oxfam, told OjoPúblico that the climate crisis in Latin America is also a crisis of inequality: “While vulnerable communities face the most devastating impacts, the wealthiest sectors continue funding and benefiting from environmental destruction.” Oxfam published in October the report Climate Plunder: How a Powerful Minority is Driving the World to Disaster.

Rising food prices and disrupted peasant production illustrate how climate change already affects daily life, she said. Health issues worsened by climate—such as dengue, chikungunya, and Zika—hit those without medical coverage hardest.

VULNERABLE. People relying on income from agricultural activities are the first to face the impacts of the climate crisis.

Photo: Ojo Público / Musuk Nolte

Although Latin America and the Caribbean contribute only 7% of global greenhouse gas emissions, the region suffers disproportionately from extreme weather, according to a November study by the International Labour Organization (ILO) and UNDP.

In Peru, the National Meteorology and Hydrology Service (SENAMHI) reported that 2024 was the hottest year in six decades, with highs near 42°C in the jungle, record-breaking nights in Áncash, and consecutive records in Cajamarca. Intense rains caused floods and road closures in southern and eastern regions, while droughts in the Amazon exposed waterways and reduced Lake Titicaca’s levels.

The ILO-UNDP study estimates that Latin American countries lose an average of 1.7% of GDP annually due to climate-related disasters. Between 1998 and 2017, more than half of global economic losses from extreme weather occurred in Latin America and the Caribbean. Analysts predict that 68–135 million people in the region could fall into poverty between 2025 and 2030 due to the climate crisis.

EFFECT. The climate crisis poses a severe threat to the Amazon and its inhabitants due to the increase in extreme weather events.

Photo: Ojo Público / Fidel Carrillo

The ultra-rich threaten the Amazon 

A May study in Nature confirmed the rise of extreme events in the Amazon. Heat extremes, once occurring once per century, may now be up to 30 times more likely. This implies that formerly exceptional events are becoming the new normal, with deep consequences for biodiversity, water systems, and the Amazon’s role as a global carbon sink.

The richest 10% of the global population are responsible for six times more extreme events than average, while the top 1% contributes nearly 17 times more. 

The 2025 Climate Inequality Report concludes that climate impacts hit countries and populations unevenly: the poorest half of the world will bear 74% of income losses from extreme events by 2050, while the richest 10% only 3%.

Cornelia Mohren, economist and co-author, told OjoPúblico that wealth, more than income, is a precise indicator of well-being, power, and political influence. “The wealthiest are most responsible for the climate crisis. Look at their consumption patterns and, especially, the companies and investments they control. Fossil fuel projects in the Global South and Latin America make their responsibility evident,” she said.

Mohren’s report shows that the wealthy drive climate change more through investments in polluting industries than personal consumption. The top 1% accounts for 15% of consumption-related emissions, but 41% of emissions linked to private capital. Per capita, a member of the top 1% emits 75 times more than someone in the poorest half from consumption alone, and 680 times more when including investments and property.

Franco Villagarcia, UNDP Prosperity and Poverty Reduction Officer in Peru, told OjoPúblico that decision-makers and wealthy actors—especially companies and investors—can play a key role through sustainable or impact investments, generating both financial returns and environmental and social benefits. Interest in such initiatives is growing in Peru, he added, with increasing awareness of their link to climate change.

On November 13, over 600 experts from 70 countries signed an open letter urging world leaders to establish an international inequality panel, modeled on the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). 

The letter, supported by the G20 committee led by Nobel laureate Joseph Stiglitz, warns that extreme wealth concentration drives accelerated climate change, disproportionately affecting the poorest. Signatories emphasized that “inequality is not inevitable; it is a political choice” and reducing it is crucial to addressing the climate crisis.