If the world continues its current emissions, the carbon budget (the amount of CO2 that can still be added to the atmosphere without causing global temperatures to rise above 1.5\u00b0C) will be depleted in about four years. However, if everyone\u2019s emissions matched those of the richest 1 percent, the carbon budget would be used up in under five months. And if everyone started emitting as much carbon as the private jets and superyachts of the average billionaire in Oxfam\u2019s study, it would be gone in two days.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe super-rich are treating our planet like their personal playground, setting it ablaze for pleasure and profit. Their dirty investments and luxury toys \u2014private jets and yachts\u2014 aren\u2019t just symbols of excess; they\u2019re a direct threat to people and the planet,\u201d said Oxfam International Executive Director Amitabh Behar.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cOxfam\u2019s research makes it painfully clear: the extreme emissions of the richest, from their luxury lifestyles and even more from their polluting investments, are fueling inequality, hunger and \u2014make no mistake\u2014 threatening lives. It\u2019s not just unfair that their reckless pollution and unbridled greed is fueling the very crisis threatening our collective future \u2014it\u2019s lethal,” said Behar.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The report, the first-ever study to look at both the luxury transport and polluting investments of billionaires, presents detailed new evidence of how their outsized emissions are accelerating climate breakdown and wreaking havoc on lives and economies. The world\u2019s poorest countries and communities have done the least to cause the climate crisis, yet they experience its most dangerous consequences.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Oxfam found that, on average, 50 of the world\u2019s richest billionaires took 184 flights in a single year, spending 425 hours in the air \u2014producing as much carbon as the average person would in 300 years. In the same period, their yachts emitted as much carbon as the average person would in 860 years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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- Jeff Bezos\u2019 two private jets spent nearly 25 days in the air over a 12-month period and emitted as much carbon as the average US Amazon employee would in 207 years. Carlos Slim took 92 trips in his private jet, equivalent to circling the globe five times.
\u00a0<\/li>\n\n\n\n - The Walton family, heirs of the Walmart retail chain, own three superyachts that in one year produced as much carbon as around 1,714 Walmart shop workers.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n
Billionaires\u2019 lifestyle emissions dwarf those of ordinary people, but the emissions from their investments are dramatically higher still \u2014the average investment emissions of 50 of the world\u2019s richest billionaires are around 340 times their emissions from private jets and superyachts combined. Through these investments, billionaires have huge influence over some of the world\u2019s biggest corporations and are driving us over the edge of climate disaster.<\/p>\n\n\n\nNearly 40 percent of billionaire investments analyzed in Oxfam\u2019s research are in highly polluting industries: oil, mining, shipping and cement. On average, a billionaire\u2019s investment portfolio is almost twice as polluting as an investment in the S&P 500. However, if their investments were in a low-carbon-intensity investment fund, their investment emissions would be 13 times lower.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Oxfam\u2019s report details three critical areas, providing national and regional breakdowns, where the emissions of the world\u2019s richest 1 percent since 1990 are already having \u2014and are projected to have\u2014 devastating consequences: <\/p>\n\n\n\n
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- Global inequality<\/strong>. The emissions of the richest 1 percent have caused global economic output to drop by $2.9 trillion since 1990. The biggest impact will be in countries least responsible for climate breakdown. Low- and lower-middle-income countries will lose about 2.5 percent of their cumulative GDP between 1990 and 2050. Southern Asia, South-East Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa will lose 3 percent, 2.4 percent and 2.4 percent, respectively. High-income countries, on the other hand, will accrue economic gains.
\u00a0<\/li>\n\n\n\n- Hunger<\/strong>. The emissions of the richest 1 percent have caused crop losses that could have provided enough calories to feed 14.5 million people a year between 1990 and 2023. This will rise to 46 million people annually between 2023 and 2050, with Latin America and the Caribbean especially affected (9 million a year by 2050).
\u00a0<\/li>\n\n\n\n- Death<\/strong>. 78 percent of excess deaths due to heat through 2120 will occur in low- and lower-middle-income countries.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIt\u2019s become so tiring, to be resilient. It’s not something that I have chosen to be \u2014it was necessary to survive. A child shouldn\u2019t need to be strong. I just wanted to be safe, to play in the sand \u2014but I was always fleeing when storms came. Counting dead bodies after a typhoon isn\u2019t something any child should have to do. And whether we survive or not, the rich polluters don\u2019t even care,\u201d said Marinel Sumook Ubaldo, a young climate activist from the Philippines.<\/p>\n\n\n\nRich countries have failed to keep their $100 billion climate finance promise, and heading into COP29, there is no indication that they will set a new climate finance goal that adequately addresses the climate financing needs of Global South countries. Oxfam warns that the cost of global warming will continue to rise unless the richest drastically reduce their emissions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ahead of COP29, Oxfam calls on governments to:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n
\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.sonnenseite.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Oxfam_Carbon_Superreiche.png\")
<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n- \n
- Reduce the emissions of the richest<\/strong>. Governments must introduce permanent income and wealth taxes on the top 1 percent, ban or punitively tax carbon-intensive luxury consumptions \u2014starting with private jets and superyachts\u2014 and regulate corporations and investors to drastically and fairly reduce their emissions.
\u00a0<\/li>\n\n\n\n- Make rich polluters pay<\/strong>. Climate finance needs are enormous and escalating, especially in Global South countries that are withstanding the worst climate impacts. A wealth tax on the world\u2019s millionaires and billionaires could raise at least $1.7 trillion annually. A wealth tax on investments in polluting activities could bring in another $100 billion.
\u00a0<\/li>\n\n\n\n- Reimagine our economies<\/strong>. The current economic system, designed to accumulate wealth for the already rich through relentless extraction and consumption, has long undermined a truly sustainable and equitable future for all. Governments need to commit to ensuring that, both globally and at a national level, the incomes of the top 10 percent are no higher than the bottom 40 percent.
\u00a0<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n- \n
- Download Oxfam\u2019s report \u201eCarbon Inequality Kills\u201c<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n
- Oxfam\u2019s research<\/a> shows that that the richest 1 percent, made up of 77 million people including billionaires, millionaires and those earning $310,000 ($140,000 PPP) or more a year<\/a>, accounted for 16 percent of all CO2 emissions in 2019.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- On average, a billionaire\u2019s investments in polluting industries such as fossil fuels and cement are double the average for the Standard & Poor 500 group of corporations.<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n
Source<\/h5>\r\n\n\n\n
- Oxfam\u2019s research<\/a> shows that that the richest 1 percent, made up of 77 million people including billionaires, millionaires and those earning $310,000 ($140,000 PPP) or more a year<\/a>, accounted for 16 percent of all CO2 emissions in 2019.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- Make rich polluters pay<\/strong>. Climate finance needs are enormous and escalating, especially in Global South countries that are withstanding the worst climate impacts. A wealth tax on the world\u2019s millionaires and billionaires could raise at least $1.7 trillion annually. A wealth tax on investments in polluting activities could bring in another $100 billion.
- Hunger<\/strong>. The emissions of the richest 1 percent have caused crop losses that could have provided enough calories to feed 14.5 million people a year between 1990 and 2023. This will rise to 46 million people annually between 2023 and 2050, with Latin America and the Caribbean especially affected (9 million a year by 2050).
- Global inequality<\/strong>. The emissions of the richest 1 percent have caused global economic output to drop by $2.9 trillion since 1990. The biggest impact will be in countries least responsible for climate breakdown. Low- and lower-middle-income countries will lose about 2.5 percent of their cumulative GDP between 1990 and 2050. Southern Asia, South-East Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa will lose 3 percent, 2.4 percent and 2.4 percent, respectively. High-income countries, on the other hand, will accrue economic gains.