The climate crisis is fundamentally a class issue, as its causes, consequences, and proposed solutions are all shaped by deep-rooted economic inequalities. Wealthy individuals and multinational corporations are overwhelmingly responsible for the majority of greenhouse gas emissions, while low-income communities are left to suffer the worst impacts, and are increasingly blamed for not doing enough. According to a 2020 Oxfam report, the richest 10% of the global population were responsible for over half (52%) of all carbon emissions between 1990 and 2015, while the poorest 50% accounted for just 7% (Oxfam, 2020). This disparity stems not only from luxury consumption: private jets, oversized homes, and carbon-heavy investment portfolios, but also from the outsized role a small number of corporations play in polluting the planet. A study by the Climate Accountability Institute found that just 100 fossil fuel producers have been responsible for more than 70% of global industrial greenhouse gas emissions since 1988 (Heede, 2014).

Despite contributing the least to the problem, low-income communities, Indigenous peoples, and countries in the Global South are the most vulnerable to the impacts of climate change. These populations are more likely to live near polluting industries, lack the resources needed to recover from climate disasters, and face displacement from rising seas, droughts, and extreme weather events. This pattern of environmental harm reflects not just economic inequality, but legacies of racial injustice and colonial exploitation; making climate change a symptom of broader structural oppression.

Many of the so-called climate “solutions” being promoted is a growing wave of propaganda that shifts responsibility for the climate crisis onto individuals, particularly the working class. This form of greenwashing, driven by corporations, media, and political elites, distracts from the real drivers of environmental destruction by framing it as the result of poor consumer choices. People are urged to go vegan, recycle more, buy organic, or trade in their gasoline cars for electric ones, while systemic issues are left unchallenged. These narratives ignore structural barriers and let those most responsible for climate change, corporations and the wealthy, off the hook.

For instance, advertisements and public messaging often guilt people for using plastic straws or shopping at Walmart or Amazon, even though these decisions are frequently made from economic necessity. A low-income parent may not have the resources to buy ethically sourced clothing or shop exclusively at farmers’ markets. Similarly, campaigns urging people to “leave the car at home” ignore the reality that many working-class communities lack safe, reliable, and affordable public transit options.

One of the most telling examples of this deflection tactic is BP’s 2004 rollout of the “carbon footprint” calculator. By encouraging individuals to measure their personal emissions, BP cleverly redirected attention away from its own massive contribution to climate change. This campaign helped normalize the idea that climate change is primarily caused by irresponsible personal habits, rather than by entrenched fossil fuel interests and decades of political inaction. In the same vein, public discourse often celebrates affluent consumers who can afford Teslas or solar panels, while subtly shaming those who rely on older, gas-powered vehicles, ignoring the significant cost barriers and infrastructural inequities that make such transitions inaccessible for many.

These narratives also fail to account for how the working class is largely excluded from the so-called “green transition.” Access to renewable energy incentives, EV rebates, and sustainable consumer markets often depends on credit access, homeownership, and disposable income, resources many people living paycheck to paycheck simply don’t have. Yet, the burden of guilt and responsibility continues to fall on them, while the lifestyles of the wealthiest 1%, the true high-emission outliers, go largely unregulated and unquestioned.

I firmly believe that every individual can make more environmentally conscious choices, and that every eco-friendly action has value. HOWEVER blaming the working class for not “going green” is not only dishonest, it’s a deliberate strategy. It protects the economic and political interests of those most responsible for environmental destruction while perpetuating the myth that the climate crisis can be solved through individual consumer choices alone.

Oxfam (2020). Confronting Carbon Inequality. https://www.oxfam.org/en/research/confronting-carbon-inequality

Heede, R. (2014). Tracing anthropogenic carbon dioxide and methane emissions to fossil fuel and cement producers, 1854–2010. Climatic Change.