The world is looking to limit the average global temperature rise to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels. However, a report finds that carbon emissions from the world’s wealthiest 1% are a great hindrance.
Furthermore, these high carbon emissions from the world’s richest are escalating world hunger and poverty and causing excess deaths. These are also contributing massively to other human-driven climate change consequences.
Oxfam Report Overview: Carbon Inequality Kills
This Oxfam International briefing paper is titled “Carbon Inequality Kills: Why curbing the excessive emissions of an elite few can create a sustainable planet for all.”
Luxury lifestyles, superyachts, and private jets, as well as the world’s wealthiest people’s investments in polluting industries, are making it extremely difficult for the world’s climate actors to adhere to the landmark Paris Agreement. The Paris Agreement of 2015, ratified by close to 200 nations worldwide since 2016, aims to limit global temperature increases well below 2 degrees Celsius and to pursue efforts to reduce it to 1.5 degrees Celsius above the pre-industrial levels.
The world’s richest 1% are responsible for a massive carbon footprint. They are worsening world hunger, and poverty, and causing excess deaths, says the recent Oxfam report.
Main Findings from Oxfam’s Research
Main findings from Oxfam’s research show that carbon emissions from the world’s richest 1% are causing trillions of dollars in economic losses, major impacts on crop production, and millions of excess deaths.
According to Oxfam estimates, damage from the rich’s emissions since 1990 is three times more than all climate aid given to poorer countries.
Oxfam calls for urgent climate justice. The world needs immediate and concrete climate actions to reduce inequality. The world’s wealthiest must curb their carbon emissions. They also need to contribute financially toward green solutions for rich polluters pay schemes.
According to the authors of the report, carbon inequality holds great significance in the fight against the climate change crisis.
The poor suffer more from the consequences, but it is the emissions of the world’s richest that significantly contribute to the crisis.
Carbon Footprint of Billionaires’ Private Jets and Yachts
Report sheds light on how billionaires’ lifestyles, businesses and investment are greatly contributing to greenhouse gas emissions. This is backed up by data and statistical evidence. Just 1% of people are responsible for half of all plane carbon emissions.
Oxfam reports that private jets belonging to 23 billionaires from the 50 richest each took, on average, 184 flights in 2023 – spending 425 hours in the air. These emitted an average of 2,074 tonnes of CO2 last year—equal to 300 years of emissions for an average person.
Their luxury yachts produce carbon emissions equal to what an average person would emit in 860 years.
As per Oxfam, Tesla chief Elon Musk’s two counted jets alone produce 5,497 tonnes yearly. This is equivalent to 834 years of emissions for the average person.
The report also mentions that Amazon founder Jeff Bezos’s two private jets were in the air for nearly 25 days over a year. They emitted as much carbon as the average Amazon employee in the US would produce in 207 years.
There was some hope when Schiphol Airport, largest in the Netherlands, announced a ban on private jets by 2026. There is great opposition to this initiative though. The new government has dismissed the plan.
The Dangers of Ignoring the Carbon Budget
The world’s billionaires pay little attention to the carbon budget, which is the maximum amount of CO2 humanity can safely emit without severe climate damage consequences.
“The finite amount of carbon dioxide that we can safely emit is known as the carbon budget. At current rates we will have burned through it in four years.”
Oxfam
Summer 2024 was the hottest on record with The U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s National Centers for Environmental Information predicting this year to be hotter than 2023. This, if came true, would make 2024 the hottest year since records were kept.
To keep global warming below 1.5°C with a 50% chance, Oxfam informs that global emissions must not exceed 250 gigatonnes of CO2, referred to as the “remaining carbon budget” by the scientific community.
At the current rate of emissions, the world will exhaust this carbon budget by January 2029, the report adds.
This could bring in more severe environmental consequences. The world’s climate has already seen major alterations due to anthropogenic activities. The resulting consequences are severe heat waves, wildfires, biodiversity loss, floods, droughts and more.
Disproportionate Carbon Emissions by the Richest 1%
The richest 1% are emitting CO2 at rates far beyond the rest of the world’s population. For instance, if everyone else emitted like the top 1%, the carbon budget would be exhausted in less than 5 months, reports Oxfam.
“The evidence from this briefing paper is clear: the world’s richest people are using a disproportionate amount of the world’s remaining carbon budget and setting us all on course for irreversible and catastrophic global warming.”
Oxfam
Oxfam included 23 Superyachts owned by 18 billionaires in their study. Each on average produced a carbon footprint of 5,672 tonnes of CO2 yearly on average—860 times more than a single person’s emissions. Reportedly, this was three times the emissions of the billionaires’ private jets.
According to Oxfam, the owners of the Walmart retail chain, the Walton family’s three yachts alone emit as much CO2 as 1,700 Walmart workers. Alex Maitland, one of the report’s authors, tells the Guardian that superyachts are some of the most polluting assets owned by billionaires, except maybe a rocket.
According to the report, the emissions of the world’s wealthiest 1% are fueling a crisis of hunger and heat-related deaths. This is impacting millions worldwide.
Their decades of emissions between 1990 and 2023 by the super-rich have already caused enough crop losses to deprive 14.5 million people of food yearly.
Addressing Climate Inequality
The report highlights the urgent need to address the climate crisis. This could be initiated through rich-polluter-pay taxes, curbing luxury emissions, and shared responsibility.
The super-rich are driving the climate crisis with their yachts and private jets, using a massive share of the Earth’s carbon budget on personal luxury and excess.
Climate diplomacy is vocal about reducing these emissions by taxing high incomes, wealth, and polluting investments. Limiting or banning or heavily taxing private jets, superyachts, and other high-carbon luxuries should be a priority going forward.
At least $18.9 trillion is needed by low- and middle-income countries by 2030 in climate action, Oxfam estimates.
The New Collective Quantified Goal, the next big initiative in Climate finance, is set to be finalized at COP29 in Baku Azerbaijan.
