For the present, research indicates that the public still underestimates, to a degree hugely convenient to the richest groups, their contribution to global warming. The majority of respondents in a four-country study overestimated the carbon footprint of the poorest 50%, and underestimated those of the richest 10% and 1%. One of its authors, Dr Ramit Debnath, commented: “These countries are very different, but we found the rich are pretty similar no matter where you go, and their concerns are different to the rest of society. There’s a huge contrast between billionaires travelling by private jet while the rest of us drink with soggy paper straws: one of those activities has a big impact on an individual carbon footprint, and one doesn’t.”