The report is titled Climate Equality: A Planet for the 99% (roughly translated: Climate equality: Planet for the 99% of humanity), announced by Oxfam on November 19 The Guardian Considered the most comprehensive study of global climate inequality ever conducted.
A marina in Hawaii (USA)
The report addresses the causes and consequences of inequality in carbon dioxide (CO) emissions2) and the impact of the emissions of the super rich, with about 77 million people in the world. The income threshold to enter this global 1% group is adjusted according to the purchasing power parity of each country, for example in the US it is 140,000 USD.
Elites pollute
According to the report, this 1% group emits 5.9 billion tons of CO2 in 2019, equivalent to 16% of global emissions and equal to the emissions of the lowest 66% of the population (5.1 billion people). More narrowly, greenhouse gas emissions from yachts, jets, villas and investment activities of the world’s 12 richest people are more than the annual emissions of 2.1 million households.
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Another report by the clean transport advocacy organization Transport & Environment in Europe shows that the emissions per passenger of private aircraft are 14 times more than those of commercial aircraft and 50 times more than those of trains. . Another study found that a superyacht emits more than 7,000 tons of CO2 per year, 1,500 times more than a typical family car, according to The Guardian.
Gulfstream G550 private plane (left) prepares to land at an air show in the UK
Notably, the suffering caused by these super-rich people – who live in super mansions with clean air and often travel by private jet – falls on the heads of the poor, migrants, and women. Women and children live and work in places vulnerable to climate extremes.
Oxfam’s senior adviser on climate justice policy Chiara Liguori accused the super-rich minority of “plundering and polluting the planet to the point of destruction but those with the least means pay the highest price”. . According to UN data, more than 91% of deaths from climate-related disasters in the past 50 years occurred in developing countries.
Need fair policy
Oxfam’s report was released ahead of the UN COP28 climate conference in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) this month. Anti-injustice activists are calling for strong taxes on the super-rich and companies in the fossil fuel sector. According to Oxfam, taxing the wealth and income of the richest people could raise more than $9,000 billion a year to invest in a more equitable “green future” for humanity.
This group of super-rich 1% are said to be the ones who completely control the world’s climate narrative through the amount of carbon they emit and through their enormous influence over the media, the economy, and politics. treat. Furthermore, the wealthy minority, including politicians, have invested and have shares in fossil fuel companies. This helps explain why global emissions are getting higher and why developed economies invested $1,800 billion to support the fossil fuel industry in 2020, contrary to their international commitments to gradual elimination of CO emissions2.
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AFP quoted Mr. Max Lawson, co-author of the report, saying that fighting the climate crisis is a common challenge but each person’s responsibility is not equal. According to Mr. Lawson, the main message of the report is to push governments to create progressive climate policy, which requires the biggest emitters to make the biggest contributions.
The numbers are alarming
Oxfam’s report estimates that on average, a person in the richest 1% emits 1,500 times more than a person in the remaining 99%. Oxfam used multiple models to predict that the 1%’s emissions would be enough to cause the heat-related deaths of 1.3 million people over the next few decades.
