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World leaders have gathered for the in Davos, Switzerland. One of their main goals is to align their responses to geopolitical shocks such as floods and wildfires that hamper trade, investment and more.

The meeting also supposedly aims to find ways to stimulate economic growth to improve living standards, foster a just and inclusive energy transition, achieve security and cooperation amidst conflicts, and accelerate the economic response to an of AI.

But, a , published on the in Davos, highlights how global inequality is more rampant than ever. The report, written by a team of policy campaigners and inequality research advisers outlines how billionaire wealth rose sharply in 2024 worldwide, with the pace of the increase three times faster than in 2023.

The extreme weather as one of the top global risks. But, as world leaders convene in Davos, the high-profile anti-climate stances of some of them stand in stark opposition to any meaningful progress for climate action.

The Oxfam report highlights the exploitation involved in creating and sustaining wealth and outlines how, as inequalities deepen, vulnerable communities are disproportionately affected. The most vulnerable—overwhelmingly women, people of color, Indigenous groups and low-wage workers—are caught in a cycle of insufficient wages, limited services and minimal political influence.

The report also highlights how wealth inequality is often intertwined with historical processes of extraction—both within countries (for example, through weak labor protections that lowers wages) and between countries (through trade, finance, and resource exploitation).

The climate connection

Other research has also shown how inequality is deeply interwoven with climate breakdown. Each crisis exacerbates the other. Historically, the richest nations—and within them, the wealthiest people—have contributed the most to .

Meanwhile, lower-income countries that bear little responsibility for global heating suffer the most. These countries, already burdened by debt and systemic inequality, have fewer resources to protect , crop failures and infrastructure damage. This makes day-to-day survival a struggle for billions.

When climate change , marginalized communities are denied basic human rights. For instance, and deplete water sources, so more people—often women and children—have to ration supplies or go without. This directly infringes on their rights to food, safe drinking water and sanitation.

In these ways, without climate action, the warming planet threatens to widen inequalities by affecting the poorest people most severely. A estimated that an additional 68 to 135 million people could be pushed into poverty by 2030 because of climate change. identified that climate change also slows down the economic catch-up of poorer countries.

The reality on the ground is bleak. Floods in Pakistan displaced thousands and affected more than in 2023. That's ten times more than the total population of Los Angeles where, when the recent wildfires struck, had to be evacuated.

Around the world, continue. Law suits that demand climate action are . High-level negotiations like the UN's annual climate summit carry on seeking progress, although the processes could be improved to accelerate change.

What can Davos do? World leaders need to look at how wealth and power can be redistributed (reparations for climate damages is one way to do this) and low-income, climate-vulnerable nations can be better represented in global decision-making.

Without this kind of change, there's a risk climate action will perpetuate the same structural imbalances that first enabled environmental exploitation. Only by tackling both climate injustice and economic inequality together can the world prevent further climate disasters and ensure a more equitable future.

This article is republished from under a Creative Commons license. Read the .