Billionaires emit more carbon pollution in 90 minutes more than an average person does

In Sub-Saharan Africa, the richest 0.1 percent emit more carbon than the poorest 50% 

Fifty of the world’s richest billionaires on average produce more carbon through their investments, private jets and super yachts in just over an hour and a half than the average person does in their entire lifetime, a new Oxfam report reveals today. The first-of-its-kind study, “Carbon Inequality Kills,” tracks the emissions from private jets, yachts and polluting investments and details how the super-rich are fueling inequality, hunger and death across the world. The report comes ahead of COP29 in Baku, Azerbaijan, amidst growing fears that climate breakdown is accelerating, driven largely by the emissions of the richest people. 

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°C) will be depleted in about four years. However, if everyone’s 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 businesses, private jets and superyachts of the average billionaire in Oxfam’s study, it would be gone in two days. 

‘‘The world’s super-rich have shown time and again that they have no regards for the wellbeing of the rest of us and will neither stop nor slow down the plundering that is rapidly pushing life on the planet to the brink. Governments must urgently regain control and put in place policies that check runaway pollution by a tiny minority and make them pay for the wanton destruction they have already caused, especially in regions such as Africa that are least responsible for the climate crisis,’ said Fati N’zi-Hassane — Director, Oxfam in Africa. 

The report, the first-ever study to look at both the luxury transport and polluting investments of billionaires, found that, on average, 50 of the world’s richest billionaires took 184 flights in a single year, spending 425 hours in the air —producing 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. 

Though Africa contributes to less than 4 percent of global carbon emission, the study establishes a massive intolerable gap between the emissions by the continent’s richest people and that of the poorest: 

• The richest 0.1 percent emit as much carbon as the poorest 50% 
• In 2023, Aliko Dangote's investment emitted, in just two seconds, the carbon equivalent of what the average African emits in an entire year. 

Billionaires’ lifestyle emissions dwarf those of ordinary people, but the emissions from their investments are dramatically higher still —the average investment emissions of 50 of the world’s 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’s biggest corporations and are driving us over the edge of climate disaster.  

Nearly 40 percent of billionaire investments analyzed in Oxfam’s research are in highly polluting industries: oil, mining, shipping and cement. On average, a billionaire’s 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. 

Oxfam’s report details three critical areas, providing national and regional breakdowns, where the emissions of the world’s richest 1 percent since 1990 are already having —and are projected to have— devastating consequences:  

• Global inequality. 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. 
• Hunger. 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. In Africa, the loss could have fed 438,000 people a year and the number will rise to 1.7 million people a year between 2023 and 2050.  
• Death. 78 percent of excess deaths due to heat through 2120 will occur in low- and lower-middle-income countries. 

"The drought has taken everything— we lost over 2.6 million of our livestock and women travelled the whole day scrounging for water. And just when we could begin to recover, the floods washed away the hopes we had of rising again. Without our cattle, we have no livelihood and there’s no meaning to life." said Ahmed Ibrahim, Convener — Asal Humanitarian network (AHN), a platform led by local and national NGOs in Kenya to promote a humanitarian system that enables more locally-led responses. 

Rich 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. 

Ahead of COP29, Oxfam calls on governments to:  

• Reduce the emissions of the richest. Governments must introduce new progressive taxes on the wealth and income of the super-rich and from windfall corporate profits of rich and polluting companies.  and regulate corporations and investors to drastically and fairly reduce their emissions. 
• Make rich polluters pay. 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’s 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. Highly progressive taxes on income, capital gains, property, and inheritance would raise far more. 
• Build political momentum around a global deal to increase taxes on the income and wealth of the world’s super-rich, under the leadership of the Brazilian G20 Presidency in 2024. Taxing the richest and most polluting individuals and industries, along with debt relief measures, can generate the trillions needed and create the fiscal space to facilitate action. 
• Reimagine our economies. 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 must commit to ensuring that the growing income gap is narrowed, and adequate measures put in place to cushion the vulnerable communities. These measures could include, for instance, having minimum social protection floors to prevent or alleviate poverty, vulnerability and social exclusion.