Primatologist Dr Jane Goodall spoke about the ills of modern capitalism at the World Economic Forum in Davos in January. | Fabrice Coffrini/AFP

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Stop blaming population growth for climate change. The real culprit is wealth inequality

Consumption by the world’s richest 10% makes up half of the planet’s consumption-based CO₂ emissions.

The annual World Economic Forum in Davos brought together representatives from government and business to deliberate how to solve the worsening climate and ecological crisis. The meeting came just as devastating bush fires were abating in Australia. These fires are thought to have killed up to one billion animals and generated a new wave of climate refugees. Yet, as with the COP25 climate talks in Madrid, a sense of urgency, ambition and consensus on what to do next were largely absent in Davos.

But an important debate did surface – that is, the question of who, or what, is to blame for the crisis. Famed primatologist Dr Jane Goodall remarked at the event that human population growth is responsible, and that most environmental problems wouldn’t exist if our numbers were at the levels they were 500 years ago.