How billionaire ‘pollutocrats’ are driving our climate crisis – and what we can do about it

If everyone used private jets and superyachts like 50 of the world’s richest billionaires, the remaining carbon budget to stay within 1.5C would be burned up in just two days. Nafkote Dabi introduces Oxfam’s new climate report, which spells out how the emissions of the super-rich are driving inequality, hunger and heat-related deaths.

The world’s richest people are using a disproportionate amount of the world’s remaining carbon budget and setting us all on course for irreversible and catastrophic global warming.

Our new briefing paper, published ahead of the UN COP29 climate conference shows that:

• If everyone began emitting as much carbon as those in the top 1%, the remaining carbon budget would be gone in fewer than five months.
• If everyone emitted carbon at the same rate as the luxury transport emissions of 50 of the world’s richest billionaires, the remaining carbon budget would be gone in two days.

The report builds on Oxfam’s previous climate and inequality reports, providing fresh evidence of how the very wealthiest “pollutocrats” are making a decisive contribution to planetary destruction. It signals that climate breakdown cannot be avoided without reducing excessive wealth concentration. We must take urgent action to dramatically change the consumption and investment habits of the richest people.

Just 50 billionaires cause more damage than 155 million people

This paper presents new data on the luxury transport consumption – private jets and superyachts – and investment emissions of 50 of the world’s richest people. The research finds that these transport and investment emissions from those 50 billionaires add up to more than the consumption emissions of the poorest 2% (155 million people combined).

Oxfam identified private jets belonging to 23 of the 50 billionaires in the sample (the others either do not own jets or have kept them out of the public record). On average, these 23 billionaires each took 184 flights in 2023, emitting an average of 2,074 tonnes of carbon a year. This is equivalent to 300 years’ worth of emissions for the average person in the world, or 2,000 years for someone in the poorest 50%. Elon Musk alone owns (at least) two private jets which together produce 5,497 tonnes of CO2 per year.

Oxfam also identified 23 superyachts owned by 18 billionaires and estimates the average annual carbon footprint of each these yachts to be 5,672 tonnes, more than three times the emissions of the billionaires’ private jets. This is equivalent to 860 years of emissions for the average person in the world, and 5,600 times the average of someone in the global poorest 50%. The Walton family, heirs to the Walmart retail chain, own three superyachts worth over US$500m which have a carbon footprint equivalent to around 1,700 of their shop workers.

The massive impact from super-rich people’s investments

Huge as the impact of luxury transport is, it is far exceeded by the investment footprint of the super-rich, which is the most important element of their overall impact on people and planet.

Our report argues that we need to shine a spotlight on these investment emissions: that’s because, as well as being big emitters from consumption, these billionaire investors own, control, shape, and profit from the production processes that release so much of the globe’s greenhouse gases.

Of the 50 billionaires in our sample, Oxfam was able to identify the investment emissions of 41. The average investment emissions of these billionaires was 2.6 million tonnes of CO2e, ie equivalent to around 2.6 million tonnes of CO2. That is around 340 times the emissions from their private jets and superyachts combined.

How the emissions of the richest fuel inequality, hunger and death

The report goes on to spell out the impact of all these emissions of the super-rich, which are causing economic damage, particularly to poorer countries; driving up hunger; and fuelling excess deaths, typically as a result of extreme heat.

Hotter temperatures hurt annual economic growth, as they impact labour productivity, agricultural productivity, and energy use. New research for this paper shows that from 1990 to 2050, the economic cost of the super-rich 1% will add up to $52.6 trillion, with most of this cost borne by poorer countries. In fact, the damage already done to low- and lower-middle-income countries between 1990 and 2023 by the consumption emissions of the 1% is about three times the total climate finance developed countries have given to poorer countries

Climate change is also a leading cause of the steep rise in global hunger as it damages crop yields. Our report estimates that, by 2050, crop losses driven by decades of consumption emissions by the world’s richest 10% will be equivalent to losing enough food to feed a staggering 148.8 million people a year.

The final factor we look at in our report is excess deaths. Climate change is driving extreme heat and people’s risk of suffering potentially deadly heat-related illnesses. Our analysis shows that just four years (2015–2019) of the consumption emissions of the world’s richest 1% will be enough to cause 1.5 million excess deaths between 2020 and 2120. This equates to just over 15,000 excess deaths per year over the next century. That is higher than the current annual death toll due to natural disasters.

Three areas where governments must act urgently

Our report proposes three areas for urgent action:

Reduce the emissions of the richest by:

• Producing and implementing just and ambitious climate plans to reduce emissions according to the requirements of the Paris Agreement. These plans should reflect emissions reductions based on individual incomes rather than national averages.
• Taxing the super-rich to curb their excessive consumption and investment emissions, and their role in propping up polluting industries.
• Banning or punitively taxing carbon-intensive luxury consumptions, starting with private jets, superyachts, sports utility vehicles (SUVs), and frequent air travel.
• Regulating corporations and investors to radically and fairly reduce their carbon emissions.

Make rich polluters pay:

• Governments must implement an ambitious package of progressive taxes on the income and wealth of the richest individuals and on the profits of the largest corporations, starting with windfall. Without these, we will not able to meet our huge climate finance needs.  Oxfam estimates that low- and middle-income countries need at least US$18.9 trillion between now and 2030 for climate action. And civil society estimates that in addition to this, the Global North owes the Global South a climate debt of US$5 trillion between 2025 and 2050 to compensate for their past exploitation of nature and people.

Reimagine our economies and societies to deliver wellbeing and planetary flourishing. Our report calls for governments to:

• Set targets to radically reduce economic inequality
• Go beyond the flawed goal of GDP growth and put new measures of progress at the heart of public policy measures that centre on equality, human wellbeing, and planetary health.
• Reject neoliberal economics and put the state at the centre of delivering healthy and prosperous societies that are good for people and the planet.
• Rebalance global institutions such as the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the World Bank and the World Trade Organization (WTO), to ensure that Global South countries have the autonomy and policy space to build a better future for their people.

Nafkote Dabi is Climate Justice Policy Lead at Oxfam. This first appeared on From Poverty to Power.

Read the report: Carbon Inequality Kills: Why curbing the excessive emissions of an elite few can create a sustainable planet for all. And you can read more on the numbers behind the report on Oxfam’s Equals Substack, where you can also subscribe to our regular inequality newsletter.

Editor’s note: The UK’s Chancellor Rachel Reeves has just announced a 50% increase in air passenger duty for those travelling on private jets. The announcement comes after Oxfam and other organisations have been campaigning in the UK for taxes on luxury transport.

Photo by ABDELMOUGHIT LAHBABI