Oxfam Study: Mobility of the Rich Significantly Drives Global Warming

The richest 1 percent of the world's population caused as much carbon pollution in 2019 as the five billion people who make up the poorest two-thirds of humanity. That's the result of new calculations by the global NGO Oxfam. The report is being released ahead of the UN Climate Summit in Dubai amid growing fears that the 1.5°C target to limit temperature rise is increasingly becoming unattainable. The excessive emissions of the richest 1 percent will cause 1.3 million heat-related deaths, roughly equivalent to the population of Dublin, Ireland. Most of these deaths will occur between 2020 and 2030.

"The super-rich are plundering and polluting the planet to the point of destruction and leaving humanity to suffocate from extreme heat, floods, and droughts. For years, we have fought to end the era of fossil fuels to save millions of lives and our planet. It is clearer than ever that this will be impossible unless we also end the era of extreme wealth," criticizes Amitabh Behar, Interim Executive Director of Oxfam International.

The report "Climate Equality: A Planet for the 99%" is based on research by the Stockholm Environment Institute (SEI) and evaluates the consumption emissions of different income groups in 2019, the last year for which data is available. The report shows the vast gap between the carbon footprint of the super-rich - whose carbon-hungry lifestyle and investments in polluting industries such as fossil fuels drive global warming - and the masses of people around the world.

More than all road traffic emissions

The richest 1 percent - that's 77 million people with annual incomes over $140,000, for Germany $280,000 - were responsible for 16 percent of global consumption emissions in 2019 - more than all emissions from car and road traffic. The richest 10 percent were responsible for half (50 percent) of the emissions. It would take about 1,500 years for someone from the bottom 99 percent to produce as much carbon as the richest billionaires do in a year, Oxfam calculates. Each year, the emissions of the richest 1 percent cancel out the carbon savings of nearly one million wind turbines.

Since the 1990s, the richest 1 percent have consumed twice as much carbon as would be acceptable without global temperatures exceeding the safe limit of 1.5°C, compared to the poorer half of humanity. The carbon emissions of the richest 1 percent will be 22 times higher in 2030 than the level compatible with the 1.5°C target of the Paris Agreement.

In Germany, the richest percent of the population emits an average of 83.3 tons of CO2 per capita per year, more than fifteen times the amount of someone from the poorer half of the population (5.4 tons of CO2 per year).

Climate Collapse and Inequality: A Vicious Cycle

The organization points to firsthand evidence of how people living in poverty, women and girls, indigenous communities, and countries of the Global South bear the unequal burden of climate impacts, which in turn widen the gap. The report notes that in more unequal countries, seven times more people die from floods. Climate change is already exacerbating inequality between and within countries.

"Governments can address the dual crisis of inequality and climate change by targeting the excessive emissions of the super-rich and investing in public services and the fulfillment of climate goals," the organization appeals.

Oxfam has calculated that a 60 percent tax on the incomes of the richest 1 percent would reduce emissions by more than the entire emissions of the United Kingdom and generate $6.4 trillion per year to finance the transition from fossil fuels to renewable energy.

"We need to make this connection clear. If wealth is not taxed, the richest can rob us, ruin our planet, and neglect democracy. Taxing extreme wealth changes our odds of fighting both inequality and the climate crisis. It is about trillions of dollars that we can invest in dynamic, green governments of the 21st century, but also channel back into our democracies," Behar stated.