Have used up everything in ten days

Paris Agreement

The carbon dioxide budget for the richest is now used up

Christina Nordh

Published 00.01

 

We are heading for new heat records. Photo: Getty Images

The carbon dioxide budget for the richest one percent on earth is exhausted.

Ten days into the new year.

The humanitarian organization Oxfam released its new analysis on January 10 at 00.01.

It states that the very richest have already used up their annual carbon dioxide budget, the amount of carbon dioxide that can be emitted to keep global warming from exceeding 1.5 degrees.

Oxfam calls the day “Pollucrat Day”.

 

In July 2022, artist Drake's private jet, a converted Boeing 767, landed at Arlanda for his Sweden gig. The plane was worth almost two billion kronor at the time and Drake had shown it off several times on Instagram. Photo: Stefan Jerrevång

Need to reduce drastically

To keep warming within the 1.5 degree limit, the richest one percent would need to reduce their emissions by 97 (!) percent by 2030. That's only four years away.

At the same time, those who have contributed the least to causing the climate crisis – including communities in poorer and climate-exposed countries, indigenous peoples, and women and girls – are being hit the hardest.

“Research shows time and again that governments have a very clear and simple path to dramatically reduce carbon emissions while fighting inequality: by targeting the biggest emitters. By cracking down on the extremely irresponsible carbon consumption of the super-rich, world leaders have an opportunity to put the world back on track towards climate goals and unlock net benefits for people across the planet,” says Oxfam’s climate policy director Nafkote Dabi in a press release.

According to the analysis, emissions from the richest 12 percent in a single year are estimated to cause around 1.3 million heat-related deaths by the end of the century.

 

Tuvalu, the island of around 10,000 people, is slowly being taken over by the sea. Last fall, Australia welcomed its first climate refugees from here. Photo: Björn Lindahl

“Have enormous power”

Overconsumption of emissions by the world’s super-rich is also causing significant economic damage in low- and lower-middle-income countries, which could total $44 trillion by 2050, according to Oxfam.

The organization’s research also shows that each billionaire, on average, has an investment portfolio in companies that generate 1.9 million tons of CO2 per year – locking the world into an ever-deepening climate crisis.

The richest people and companies have great influence and power. For example, the number of lobbyists from fossil fuel companies who attended the recent COP summit in Brazil was larger than any other delegation except the host country, 1,600 participants.

Nafkote Dabi says in the press release:

– The enormous power and wealth that super-rich individuals and companies possess has also enabled them to exercise undue influence over political decision-making processes and water down climate negotiations.

Footnote: Sweden's richest one percent ran out of money on January 16, while the richest 0.1% of Swedes had already used up their carbon budget on January 4.

FACTS

Oxfam: How the super-rich can reduce their emissions

• Raise taxes on income and wealth for the super-rich, and actively support and participate in the negotiations on the UN Convention on International Tax Cooperation to create a fairer global tax architecture.
• Introduce excess profit taxes on fossil fuel companies. A tax on profits from rich polluters on 585 oil, gas and coal companies could raise up to US$400 billion in the first year alone – equivalent to the costs of climate damage in the global South.
• Ban or heavily tax carbon-intensive luxury goods, such as superyachts and private jets. The combined carbon footprint of a super-rich European – from barely a week of superyacht and private jet use – is equivalent to the lifetime emissions of a person in the world’s poorest one percent.
• Build an equitable economic system that puts people and the planet first by moving away from dominant neoliberal economic models and instead towards an economy built on sustainability and equality.

Source: Oxfam