Prone to frequent flying, a passion for SUVs and big spending, the richest 1 percent of the world's population produced twice as many planet-heating emissions as the poorest half of humanity over the last quarter-century, researchers said on Monday.

That excessive consumption has left little room in the world's "carbon budget" for poorer countries to grow without pushing the planet into increasingly dangerous climate impacts, from worsening storms to water shortages, scientists said.

And it suggests that keeping global climate change under control will require not just helping poorer countries to develop cleanly, but putting in place tough measures to curb over-consumption by the world's rich, they said in a new study.