A new report from the World Inequality Lab presents a radical yet fully quantified vision for global progress by 2100, aiming to reconcile planetary habitability with high standards of wellbeing for all. The plan outlines three simultaneous conditions: fast decarbonisation of energy systems, a major shift towards sufficiency involving reduced labour hours and consumption, and a drastic reduction in inequality of income, wealth, and power.
The Vision for 2100
Imagine a future where 90% of the world's population doubles their income but works half the hours of today. The bottom half of humanity would see their share of global wealth rise from 2% to 30%, while overconsumption is eliminated. Global heating would be limited to 1.8°C, compared to over 4°C on current trends. Average per capita national income would converge to about €5,000 per month in all countries, with annual working hours falling from roughly 2,100 to about 1,000. The share of global working hours devoted to education and health would rise from 11% to 43%, and women and men would achieve equal pay and equal sharing of economic and domestic labour.
Redistribution and New Institutions
The plan requires a deep contraction of inequality: the income scale between individuals would narrow to a ratio of one to five, and the wealth scale to one to ten. The share of global wealth held by the poorest half would rise to 30%, while the billionaire class's share would fall from 6% to 0.05%. To finance this, a global justice fund would spend an average of 10% of world GDP annually from 2026 to 2060, sourced from a world sovereign fund holding 10% of global capital stock, a global wealth tax rising to 20% on billionaires, and a global income tax rising to 90% at the very top. These taxes would affect about 1% of the world's population.
Gains for Almost Everyone
Close to 90% of the world's population would double their income between 2026 and 2100. When counting leisure and a habitable planet, over 99% come out ahead. The plan also redistributes power: every inhabitant would have equal voice in international financial institutions, replacing the current system where the richest regions hold four times as many votes as their population share. An international clearing union and a new international currency would end the exorbitant privileges of dominant powers and address global trade imbalances.
Feasibility and Precedents
The report argues that a habitable, equal, and prosperous 21st century is materially possible within the carbon budget. Historical precedents include universal suffrage, universalisation of healthcare and education, halving of working hours, and sharp inequality compression over the 20th century. The main obstacle is not technical impossibility but the absence of a shared vision of social progress. Political choice and coalition-building are needed to overcome this.
This report is part of a broader international agenda including the Bridgetown initiative, the Sevilla Commitment, the UN tax convention process, and G20 initiatives by Brazil and South Africa. It places these proposals within a quantified institutional framework, modelling socioeconomic convergence, temperature change, and distributional trajectories up to 2100.
