Sustainable Development Goal 10 (SDG 10): Reduce Income Inequality within and among Countries - Issue Brief

The UN Environment Assembly 4 resolution on the poverty-environment nexus urges Member States to apply integrated, innovative and coherent approaches in developing and implementing policies, laws, plans and budgets for poverty eradication through sustainable environment and natural resource management, in alignment with the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. This document examines how inequality within and between countries undermines environmental sustainability by driving overconsumption of private and positional goods, weakening public goods, and intensifying resource depletion. It links industrialization and consumption patterns, especially the material demand of high-income economies, to overuse and pollution in resource-rich developing countries, where the poor face greater exposure and productivity losses from ambient and household air pollution. It calls for integrated policy responses that connect environmental, social, and economic measures, including removing harmful subsidies while protecting low-income groups, improving fiscal and regulatory frameworks, and strengthening participation, information access, and protection for environmental defenders and indigenous communities.