Wealthy protect themselves from climate risks – leaving poor vulnerable, new research finds

Wealthy individuals are more likely to invest in solutions that protect only themselves from climate change, increasing wealth inequality and leaving poorer individuals vulnerable to climate risks, finds a new study involving Corvinus University of Budapest.

Wealthier countries are better able to invest in private solutions, such as flood protection, rerouting rivers, or cloud seeding. These tend to be less socially efficient than public solutions; collective actions that address global warming and benefit everyone.

Researchers across 34 countries divided over 7,500 participants into groups of four: two rich players who received 120 ‘monetary units’ and two poor players that received 80. In some groups, participants earned their money at the beginning of the experiment, while in other groups a lottery determined how much each participant received. Across ten rounds, participants could invest up to 20 in a private solution (costing 60 total to implement) or a public solution (costing 160 total) per round.

Of the “rich” participants, 62.1% chose the private solution, almost twice as often as the “poorer” participants (32%), regardless of whether “wealth” originated from luck or merit. Across all 34 countries, wealth inequality within groups increased and poor participants were left unprotected, as total funds for public solutions were not reached.

“Private solution adoption was higher in countries with cultures that emphasise hierarchy and mastery and lower in countries emphasising harmony. Hierarchy and mastery values justify inequalities and self-assertion, and therefore private solutions, while harmony values emphasise cooperation and interdependence, encouraging public solutions,” says Hubert János Kiss, Associate Professor from Corvinus University.

However, researchers found that if individuals contributed to public solutions in earlier rounds, this was likely to continue leading to fully-funded public solutions. Each additional 1 monetary unit contributed in the first round was associated with an 11% increase in the odds of the public solution being funded.

Researchers also identified conditional co-operators – those more willing to contribute to a public solution when they see others contributing – and found groups with more conditional co-operators were more likely to successfully fund the public solution.

Considering this, real-world policymakers should support initiatives that promote countries working together on climate action or matching mechanisms, where contribution is matched by another, to encourage early participation.

Prof. Daniel Horn, Hubert János Kiss, and Antal Ertl participated in the research from Corvinus University. The 34 nations in this study were; UK, US, Germany, UAE, France, Spain, Senegal, Pakistan, Honduras, Ghana, Egypt, Canada, Dominican Republic, Philippines, Greece, Indonesia, Poland, South Africa, China, Netherlands, Uruguay, Italy, Australia, Denmark, India, Hong Kong, Colombia, South Korea, Austria, Hungary, Japan, Switzerland, Czechia, and Taiwan.

These findings were published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences journal. The paper can be accessed here.

/ENDS

For more information or to speak with researcher Hubert János Kiss, please contact Kyle Grizzell from BlueSky Education on +44 (0) 1582 790709 or kyle@bluesky-pr.com

About Corvinus University of Budapest
Corvinus University of Budapest is Hungary's leading university in the field of business, economics, and social sciences. Maintained by the Maecenas Universitatis Corvini Foundation, Corvinus University currently has around 8,000 students, including 2,000 international students. The school has close links with 170 partner universities worldwide and is regularly included in international higher education rankings. In 2025, Corvinus earned the 5 Palmes of Excellence award from Eduniversal and is the only university in Hungary in the field of economics to hold two international institutional accreditations (AMBA and AACSB).