The wealthiest 1% of the world's population have burned through their annual carbon budget share within the first ten days of the year, according to a report published by Oxfam on Friday.
By contrast, it would take nearly three years for someone in the poorest 50% of the global population to exhaust their share of the global annual carbon budget, the NGO says.
The annual carbon budget represents the maximum amount of CO2 that can be emitted without causing global temperatures to rise above the 1.5°C threshold. This alarming imbalance reveals that climate change is predominantly driven by the ultra-rich, whose emissions far exceed those of ordinary citizens, Oxfam claims.
The wealthiest 1% emit more than twice the carbon of the poorest half of humanity, the NGO adds. “Their excessive emissions have devastating effects on communities vulnerable to climate change and undermine climate action. To limit warming to 1.5°C, the wealthiest 1% must cut their emissions by 97% by 2030,” it states.
“The future of our planet is hanging by a thread,” warns Nafkote Dabi, Oxfam International’s Climate Advocacy Lead. “The margin for action is extremely narrow yet the ultra-rich continue to destroy humanity’s prospects with their luxurious lifestyles, polluting investments, and harmful political influence. This is outright theft; a minority is depriving billions of their future to satisfy endless greed.”
Oxfam’s research shows that emissions from the wealthiest 1% since 1990 have caused trillions of dollars in economic damage, significant crop losses, and millions of excess deaths.
“The plutocrat polluters must pay for the damage they inflict on our planet. They should be taxed, forced to reduce their emissions, and luxury items like private jets and superyachts should be banned. Politicians who do nothing are deliberately choosing to be complicit in a crisis that threatens billions of lives,” Nafkote Dabi concludes.
