The annual global carbon budget, which refers to the amount of CO2 that can be added to the atmosphere without causing the world to exceed 1.5°C of warming, is determined by our consumption habits and the CO2 emissions they produce. After just 10 days, the richest 1% have already generated an average of 2.1 tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions, equivalent to their annual carbon budget.
If you imagine the richest 1% to be individuals like Elon Musk or Taylor Swift, those with incalculable amounts of money, think again. In reality, the richest 1% consists of 77 million people, all earning over £140,000 a year, according to an analysis by Oxfam GB. The same research dubbed 10th January as Pollutocrat Day.
The research provides perspective, indicating that an individual from the world’s poorest half would require nearly three years (1,022 days) to use their annual carbon budget.
“The richest 1% are responsible for more than twice as much carbon pollution than the poorest half of humanity with devastating consequences, like the wildfires currently sweeping across Southern California, for communities all around the world. To meet the 1,5°C goal, the richest 1% need to cut their emissions by 97% by 2030”, the report reads. However, at the moment, they are set to reduce their per capita consumption emissions by just 5%.
At the same time, it is often the poorest people and the poorest countries who suffer the consequences of global warming. According to Oxfam GB, since 1990, the richest 1% have caused trillions of dollars in economic damage, extensive crop losses, and millions of excess deaths.
“The future of our planet is hanging by a thread”, said Oxfam International’s Climate Change Policy Lead, Nafkote Dabi. “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,” she concluded.
In order to reduce the carbon budget of the wealthiest 1%, Oxfam GB proposes instituting permanent income and wealth taxes, alongside banning or heavily taxing carbon-intensive luxury goods. Additionally, the report calls for the richest 1% to contribute to a budget that assists Global South countries in dealing with rising temperatures.
“Governments need to stop pandering to the richest. Rich polluters must be made to pay for the havoc they’re wreaking on our planet,” said Dabi. “Tax them, curb their emissions, and ban their excessive indulgences —private jets, superyachts, and the like. Leaders who fail to act are effectively choosing complicity in a crisis that threatens the lives of billions.”
