Ending extreme poverty has a negligible impact on global greenhouse gas emissions.

Growing consumption is both necessary to end extreme povertyand one of the main drivers of greenhouse gas emissions, creating a potential tension between alleviating poverty and limiting global warming. Most poverty reduction has historically occurred because of economic growth, which means that reducing poverty entails increasing not only the consumption of people living in poverty but also the consumption of people with a higher income. Here we estimate the emissions associated with the economic growth needed to alleviate extreme poverty using the international poverty line of US $2.

How much does reducing inequality matter for global poverty?

The goals of ending extreme poverty by 2030 and working towards a more equal distribution of incomes are part of the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals. Using data from 166 countries comprising 97.5% of the world's population, we simulate scenarios for global poverty from 2019 to 2030 under various assumptions about growth and inequality.