Due to investments in polluting activities, the use of private jets and superyachts, billionaires on average emit more CO₂ in just 90 minutes than the average inhabitant of the planet produces in a lifetime. This is according to a November 9 report by the non-governmental organization Oxfam, published on the eve of the COP29 climate summit in Baku. “Representatives of the richest socio-economic groups bear a major responsibility for the worsening climate crisis generated by their lifestyles, consumption and investments,” emphasizes Francesco Petrelli, Oxfam's representative in Italy.

Moreover, “the resources at their disposal guarantee them greater resilience and ability to mitigate the adverse effects of climate change”, emphasizes the NGO. “At the same time, millions of people who bear little responsibility for the climate collapse suffer its most damaging effects, especially in the poorest countries and the least prepared to resist and adapt to extreme climate events that are becoming more frequent, intense and unpredictable,” states the report, highlighting a paradoxical and unjust situation.

At current emission levels, the “carbon budget” - that is, the maximum amount of net cumulative global CO₂ emissions into the atmosphere that keeps temperature rise within 1.5°C of the pre-industrial era - will be exhausted within 14 years. The scenario would go from alarming to catastrophic, and the carbon budget would “run out” in just 5 months if per capita emissions reached the level of today's emissions of the richest 1% of the planet's population. It would take only 2 days to exhaust it if all global citizens used private jets and yachts like those available to the richest billionaires considered in the report.

Oxfam's analysis therefore shows that each billionaire among the world's 23 richest people flew an average of 184 times on a private jet in 2023, spending 425 hours in flight and producing CO₂ emissions equal to what the average citizen would produce over 300 years. During the same period, the yachts of 18 billionaires emitted as much carbon dioxide as the average global citizen emits in 860 years. Examples of major polluters cited in the study include American billionaire Jeff Bezos, Carlos Slim, the Walton family, and the heirs to the Walmart chain of stores.

The emissions associated with the lifestyles of the super-rich are out of control, but the emissions associated with their investments are even higher. The average carbon footprint of a billionaire's financial portfolio analyzed in the report is about 340 times the average emissions of their private jets and superyachts. In fact, nearly 40% of the billionaires' investments analyzed in the Oxfam study are in highly polluting industries: oil, mining, maritime transport and cement. If they invested in low-carbon funds, their investment emissions would be 13 times lower than they are today.

Looking at the emissions produced by the richest 1% of people in the world since 1990, the Oxfam report details the devastating effects of the status quo in three specific areas. First is the increase in global inequality: emissions owned by the world's richest 1% have caused global GDP to fall by $2.9 trillion from 1990 to today. If this trend continues, the countries least responsible for climate change will be the most affected.

While advanced economies will suffer only limited losses, low-income and lower-middle-income countries will see their aggregate GDP shrink by about 2.5% in 2050 from 1990 levels. South Asia would lose 3%, Southeast Asia and sub-Saharan. Africa 2.4%.

Second is the rise in hunger: the emissions of the richest 1% led to crop losses between 1990 and 2023 that could have provided enough food to feed 14.5 million people a year. Between 2023 and 2050, the number of people at risk of chronic malnutrition will rise to 46 million per year, with the Latin America and Caribbean region suffering the worst impacts, where 9 million people will be at risk of global hunger each year through 2050.

Third, regarding the victims of global warming: 78% of excess heat-related deaths through 2120 will occur in low- and middle-low-income countries.