World’s richest 1% burn through their fair share of annual carbon budget in just 10 days
Amazon founder Jeff Bezos’ two private jets spent nearly 25 days in the air over a 12-month period
In less than a week and a half, the consumption habits of the super-rich, including using superyachts and private jets, produced 2.1 tonnes of carbon emissions.
It would take someone from the poorest half of the world’s population three years to use the same amount of carbon.
In 2015, at COP21 in Paris, world leaders committed to limiting global warming to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels.
The EU’s Copernicus climate change service has published data today which shows that 2024 is the first calendar year where global temperatures are 1.5°C above this level.
By 2030, the richest 1% are set to reduce their individual consumption emissions by just 5%, compared with the 97% cuts needed to achieve the 1.5°C goal.
Walmart owners’ superyachts produced as much carbon as 1,700 Walmart shop workers
Previous research by Oxfam found that, on average, 50 of the world’s richest billionaires took 184 flights in a single year. It would take an average person 300 years to produce this amount of carbon.
Jeff Bezos’ 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.
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.
While the super-rich are responsible for producing more than twice as much carbon pollution than the world’s poorest, it is the poorest who are suffering the most serious consequences of climate change.
Taxes on private jets and superyachts could have raised £2 billion in 2023
Chiara Liguori, Oxfam GB’s Senior Climate Justice Policy Advisor said: “The future of our planet is hanging by a thread, yet the super-rich are being allowed to continue to squander humanity’s chances with their lavish lifestyles and polluting investments.”
Liguori added: “Governments need to stop pandering to the richest polluters and instead make them pay their fair share for the havoc they’re wreaking on our planet.
“Leaders who fail to act are culpable in a crisis that threatens the lives of billions.”
The charity has calculated that fair taxes on private jets and superyachts in the UK could have raised up to £2 billion in 2023 to help tackle climate change.
Liguori said: “As global temperatures continue to climb, the UK must show how it will generate its own share of new, fair funding to meet the escalating climate finance needs and fight inequality – significantly higher taxes on polluting luxuries like private jets and superyachts is an obvious place for the government to start.”
Olivia Barber is a reporter at Left Foot Forward
Amazon founder Jeff Bezos’ two private jets spent nearly 25 days in the air over a 12-month period
Today
The world’s richest 1% have used up their fair share of the annual carbon budget just 10 days into the new year.In less than a week and a half, the consumption habits of the super-rich, including using superyachts and private jets, produced 2.1 tonnes of carbon emissions.
It would take someone from the poorest half of the world’s population three years to use the same amount of carbon.
In 2015, at COP21 in Paris, world leaders committed to limiting global warming to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels.
The EU’s Copernicus climate change service has published data today which shows that 2024 is the first calendar year where global temperatures are 1.5°C above this level.
By 2030, the richest 1% are set to reduce their individual consumption emissions by just 5%, compared with the 97% cuts needed to achieve the 1.5°C goal.
Walmart owners’ superyachts produced as much carbon as 1,700 Walmart shop workers
Previous research by Oxfam found that, on average, 50 of the world’s richest billionaires took 184 flights in a single year. It would take an average person 300 years to produce this amount of carbon.
Jeff Bezos’ 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.
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.
While the super-rich are responsible for producing more than twice as much carbon pollution than the world’s poorest, it is the poorest who are suffering the most serious consequences of climate change.
Taxes on private jets and superyachts could have raised £2 billion in 2023
Chiara Liguori, Oxfam GB’s Senior Climate Justice Policy Advisor said: “The future of our planet is hanging by a thread, yet the super-rich are being allowed to continue to squander humanity’s chances with their lavish lifestyles and polluting investments.”
Liguori added: “Governments need to stop pandering to the richest polluters and instead make them pay their fair share for the havoc they’re wreaking on our planet.
“Leaders who fail to act are culpable in a crisis that threatens the lives of billions.”
The charity has calculated that fair taxes on private jets and superyachts in the UK could have raised up to £2 billion in 2023 to help tackle climate change.
Liguori said: “As global temperatures continue to climb, the UK must show how it will generate its own share of new, fair funding to meet the escalating climate finance needs and fight inequality – significantly higher taxes on polluting luxuries like private jets and superyachts is an obvious place for the government to start.”
Olivia Barber is a reporter at Left Foot Forward
‘The rich are on course to destroy all our lives’
World’s wealthiest 1% have already burned through their share of the entire annual carbon limit, Oxfam warns
A firefighter battles the Palisades Fire as it burns a structure in the Pacific Palisades neighbourhood of Los Angeles, January 7, 2025
Elizabeth Short
Friday, January 10, 2025
THE world’s wealthiest 1 per cent have already burned through their share of the entire annual carbon limit, a damning analysis of super-rich climate destruction has revealed.
A new study by charity Oxfam has analysed the “global carbon budget” — the amount of CO2 that can be emitted without exceeding the international target of limiting global warming to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels.
Its findings showed that while the richest capitalists had already exceeded that limit in the first 10 days of 2025, it would take someone from the poorest half of the global population nearly three years to use up their share.
Inaction will continue to have deadly consequences, the charity said — and eight in 10 deaths from heat will occur in low and lower-middle-income countries.
Oxfam estimated that by 2050, emissions by the 1 per cent will cause crop losses that could have provided enough calories to feed at least 10 million people a year in eastern and southern Asia.
Emissions from the ultra-wealthy are also causing trillions in economic losses -– the impact on low and lower-middle-income countries over the past three decades has been three times greater than the total climate finance provided by wealthy nations.
To make a start on attempts to meet the 1.5°C goal, the richest 1 per cent would need to cut their emissions by 97 per cent by the end of the decade, the charity said.
It suggested that this could be done by introducing wealth taxes alongside a ban, or heavy taxation, on private jets and superyachts.
The charity urged governments to make rich polluters pay, and for climate finance to be boosted significantly for countries such as those in the global South bearing the brunt of climate impacts.
Oxfam International’s climate change policy lead Nafkote Dabi said: “The margin for action is razor-thin, yet the super-rich continue to squander humanity’s chances with their lavish lifestyles, polluting stock portfolios and pernicious political influence.
“This is theft — pure and simple ― a tiny few robbing billions of people of their future to feed their insatiable greed.”
Extinction Rebellion’s Marijn van de Geer said: “On the same day as the announcement that 2024 has been confirmed to breach 1.5°C, the elite 1 per cent has already burned through their share of their annual global carbon budget.
“Not only are they flying us all to extinction in their private jets, which accounts for an enormous and disproportionate share of transport emissions, they are also whispering in the ears of our politicians, news editors and judges; controlling the narrative that climate breakdown isn’t real, or certainly isn’t as urgent as scientists say it is.
“We cannot achieve a fair transition away from fossil fuels as long as the elite 1 per cent holds all the power over decision makers, so we must expose what they are doing, which is exactly what we are intending to do this year.”
A spokesperson for Just Stop Oil also issued a rallying call, saying: “We live within a system that serves the few over the many, and the rich are on course for destroying all our lives if they carry on unopposed. We must get organised and resist.
“We need a revolution in politics and economics, and we need to reclaim Parliament from the corporations and billionaires, whilst prioritising the interests of ordinary people.”
Friday, January 10, 2025
MORNINGSTAR UK
THE world’s wealthiest 1 per cent have already burned through their share of the entire annual carbon limit, a damning analysis of super-rich climate destruction has revealed.
A new study by charity Oxfam has analysed the “global carbon budget” — the amount of CO2 that can be emitted without exceeding the international target of limiting global warming to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels.
Its findings showed that while the richest capitalists had already exceeded that limit in the first 10 days of 2025, it would take someone from the poorest half of the global population nearly three years to use up their share.
Inaction will continue to have deadly consequences, the charity said — and eight in 10 deaths from heat will occur in low and lower-middle-income countries.
Oxfam estimated that by 2050, emissions by the 1 per cent will cause crop losses that could have provided enough calories to feed at least 10 million people a year in eastern and southern Asia.
Emissions from the ultra-wealthy are also causing trillions in economic losses -– the impact on low and lower-middle-income countries over the past three decades has been three times greater than the total climate finance provided by wealthy nations.
To make a start on attempts to meet the 1.5°C goal, the richest 1 per cent would need to cut their emissions by 97 per cent by the end of the decade, the charity said.
It suggested that this could be done by introducing wealth taxes alongside a ban, or heavy taxation, on private jets and superyachts.
The charity urged governments to make rich polluters pay, and for climate finance to be boosted significantly for countries such as those in the global South bearing the brunt of climate impacts.
Oxfam International’s climate change policy lead Nafkote Dabi said: “The margin for action is razor-thin, yet the super-rich continue to squander humanity’s chances with their lavish lifestyles, polluting stock portfolios and pernicious political influence.
“This is theft — pure and simple ― a tiny few robbing billions of people of their future to feed their insatiable greed.”
Extinction Rebellion’s Marijn van de Geer said: “On the same day as the announcement that 2024 has been confirmed to breach 1.5°C, the elite 1 per cent has already burned through their share of their annual global carbon budget.
“Not only are they flying us all to extinction in their private jets, which accounts for an enormous and disproportionate share of transport emissions, they are also whispering in the ears of our politicians, news editors and judges; controlling the narrative that climate breakdown isn’t real, or certainly isn’t as urgent as scientists say it is.
“We cannot achieve a fair transition away from fossil fuels as long as the elite 1 per cent holds all the power over decision makers, so we must expose what they are doing, which is exactly what we are intending to do this year.”
A spokesperson for Just Stop Oil also issued a rallying call, saying: “We live within a system that serves the few over the many, and the rich are on course for destroying all our lives if they carry on unopposed. We must get organised and resist.
“We need a revolution in politics and economics, and we need to reclaim Parliament from the corporations and billionaires, whilst prioritising the interests of ordinary people.”
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