Regulating the Polluter Elite: Exploring policy measures limiting carbon footprints of the rich

Our society is caught up in a double crisis. While levels and structures of social inequality have reached scales that experts comparable to the 19th century, the climate and environmental crisis jeopardizes the very survival of human civilization. The richest income groups, which the IPCC has come to refer to as the ‘polluter elite’, make a disproportionate contribution to the greenhouse gas emissions as income/asset ownership and emissions are closely related. This research project aims to explore policy suggestions to regulate the incomes, wealth and excessive consumption of the rich. It is structured into four work packages (WPs).

WP1:Literature review and an expert workshop on policies to regulate the wealthy; WP2: Qualitative interview study; WP3: Representative survey on policies regulating the incomes of the wealthy; WP4: Policy forums.