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Big business’ windfall profits rocket to “obscene” US$1 trillion a year amid cost-of-living crisis; Oxfam and ActionAid renew call for windfall taxes

  • 722 mega-corporations raked in US$1 trillion a year in windfall profits in 2021 and 2022.
  • A windfall tax of 90 percent on last years’ windfall profits could generate US$941 billion —money that now could be used to tackle poverty and climate change.
  • While profits soared, one billion workers across 50 countries took a US$746 billion real term pay cut in 2022.
  • Oxfam and ActionAid are calling for permanent windfall taxes on windfall profits across all sectors.

722 of the world’s biggest corporations together raked in over US$1 trillion in windfall profits each year for the past two years amid soaring prices and interest rates, while billions of people are having to cut back or go hungry.  

Analysis by Oxfam and ActionAid of Forbes’ “Global 2000” ranking shows they made US$1.09 trillion in windfall profits in 2021 and US$1.1 trillion in 2022, with an 89 percent jump in total profits compared to average total profits in 2017-2020. For this analysis, windfall profits are defined as those exceeding average profits in 2017-2020 by more than ten percent.

45 energy corporations made on average US$237 billion a year in windfall profits in 2021 and 2022. Governments could have increased global investments in renewable energy by 31 percent had they taxed at 90 percent the massive windfall profits that oil and gas producers funneled to their rich shareholders last year. There are now 96 energy billionaires with a combined wealth of nearly US$432 billion (US$50 billion more than in April last year).

Food and beverage corporations, banks, Big Pharma, and major retailers also cashed in on the cost-of-living crisis that has seen more than a quarter of a billion people in 58 countries hit by acute food insecurity in 2022. 

Extreme wealth and extreme poverty have increased simultaneously for the first time in 25 years.

  • 18 food and beverage corporations made on average about US$14 billion a year in windfall profits in 2021 and 2022, enough to cover the US$6.4 billion funding gap needed to deliver life-saving food assistance in East Africa more than twice over. Oxfam estimates that one person is likely to die of hunger every 28 seconds across Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia and South Sudan. Global food prices rose more than 14 percent in 2022.
  • 28 drug corporations made on average US$47 billion a year in windfall profits, and 42 major retailers and supermarkets made on average US$28 billion a year in windfall
  • Nine aerospace and defense corporations raked in on average US$8 billion a year in windfall profits even as 9,000 people die every day from hunger, much of that driven by conflict and war.

“People are sick and tired of corporate greed. It’s obscene that corporations have raked in billions of dollars in extraordinary windfall profits while people everywhere are struggling to afford enough food or basics like medicine and heating,” said Oxfam International interim Executive Director Amitabh Behar. 

“Big business is gaslighting us all —they’re hiking prices to make monster profits, plundering people under the cover of multiple crises.”  

“A few increasingly dominant corporations are monopolizing markets and setting prices sky-high to line the pockets of their rich shareholders. Big Pharma, energy giants and big supermarket chains shamelessly fattened their profit margins throughout both the pandemic and cost-of-living crisis. Most worryingly —in the absence of regulation, including progressive taxation— governments have invited this,” Behar said.  

There is a growing body of evidence that corporate profiteering is playing a significant role in supercharging inflation, echoing fears that corporations are exploiting the cost-of-living crisis to boost profits margins —a trend dubbed “greedflation” and “excuseflation”. Christine Lagarde, the President of the European Central Bank, suggested in May that corporations are engaging in “greedflation”, while the IMF last week published a study showing that corporate profits account for nearly half the increase in Europe’s inflation over the past two years.

Huge corporate profits have coincided with the degradation of pay and conditions for workers.  

Oxfam estimates that top-paid CEOs across four countries enjoyed a real-term 9 percent pay hike in 2022, while workers’ wages fell by 3 percent. One billion workers in 50 countries took an average pay cut of US$685 in 2022, a collective loss of US$746 billion in real wages compared to if wages had kept up with inflation. 

Oxfam and ActionAid are calling on governments to claw back gains driven by profiteering. A tax of 50 to 90 percent on the windfall profits of 722 mega-corporations could generate between US$523 billion and US$941 billion both for 2021 and 2022. This is money that could be used to help people struggling with hunger, rising energy bills and poverty in rich countries, and to provide hundreds of billions of dollars to support countries in the Global South. For example:

  • An injection of US$400 billion into the fund for loss and damage agreed to at COP27 last year. Loss and damage finance needs are urgent, with estimates saying that low- and middle-income countries could face costs of up to US$580 billion annually by 2030. UN Secretary-General António Guterres has called on rich countries to impose windfall taxes on fossil fuel companies and redirect the money to vulnerable countries suffering worsening losses from the climate crisis.
  • Cover the financing gap (US$440 billion) to provide universal social protection coverage and healthcare to more than 3.5 billion people living in low- and lower- middle-income countries, and the financing gap (US$148 billion) to provide universal access to pre-primary, primary and secondary education in these same countries. This would support the hiring of millions of new teachers, nurses and healthcare workers across the Global South.

“Enough is enough. Government policy should not allow mega-corporations and billionaires to profiteer from people’s pain. Governments must tax windfall profits of corporations across all sectors —and invest that money back in helping people and deterring future profiteering. They must put the interests of their great majorities ahead of the greed of a privileged few,” said ActionAid Secretary-General Arthur Larok.

“Taxing windfall profits is smart economic policy —it’s a very clear and direct source of money for development and tackling climate change. Piling more loans onto poorer countries is what makes absolutely no sense when debt is accelerating the climate crisis”.

Notes to editors 

Oxfam and ActionAid’s analysis is based on data from Forbes’ “Global 2000” ranking. Download the methodology note. 

According to the IEA, governments worldwide have earmarked US$710 billion for “long-term clean energy and sustainable recovery measures”. Taxing the windfall profits of 45 energy corporations (US$237 billion in 2022) at 90 percent would generate US$219 billion in revenue. Added to the existing US$710 billion in investments, this represents a 30.9 percent increase.

According to the World Food Program’s Global Report on Food Crisis (GRFC), 258 million people in 58 countries and territories faced acute food insecurity at crisis or worse levels (IPC/CH Phase 3-5) in 2022, up from 193 million people in 53 countries and territories in 2021. 

Data for the East Africa funding gap was extracted from OCHA Financial Tracking Service (FTS) on 12 June 2023.

In East Africa alone, drought and conflict have left a record 36 million people facing extreme hunger, nearly equivalent to the population of Canada.  

Death figure calculations are based on IPC reports on acute food insecurity, using the crude death rates associated with IPC Phase 3 in the IPC Technical Manual Version 3.1. We subtract 0.22 deaths per 10,000-affected population per day to account for the “normal death rate,” based on World Bank data. 

In 2022, global food prices were on average 14.3 percent higher than the previous year. 

Oxfam calculated daily deaths attributable to IPC 3 level hunger driven by conflict using the IPC Technical Manual Version 3.1. Because figures are not disaggregated into IPC 3, 4 and 5, the estimate is conservative. For IPC 3, crude daily death rates are 0.5-0.99 per 10,000, and we subtract 0.22 from each end of the range to account for “normal deaths” based on World Bank data. As such, the daily deaths attributable to IPC 3 acute food insecurity for the 117 million affected people in 19 countries where conflict is the main driver of hunger (according to the GRFC 2023) would be 3,276-9,009. 

In the US, the UK and Australia, studies have found that 54 percent, 59 percent and 60 percent of inflation, respectively, was driven by increased corporate profits.

An article published by European Central Bank economists Oscar Arce, Elke Hahn and Gerrit Koester (2023) shows that larger corporate profit margins are contributing to domestic price pressures much more than wages.  

The President of the European Central Bank, Christine Lagarde, suggested last May that corporations were engaging in “greedflation”. 

According to the IMF, rising corporate profits account for almost half the increase in Europe’s inflation over the past two years as corporations increased prices by more than spiking costs of imported energy. 

2021. Glover, J. Mustre-del-Río and A. von Ende Becker, economists at the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City, found that “markup growth” likely contributed more than 50 percent to inflation in the US in 2021.

The EU has implemented a windfall tax, but only on energy corporations. 

Workers on average worked six days “for free” last year because their wages lagged behind inflation —while real pay for top executives in India, the UK, US and South Africa jumped 9 percent.  

According to Anil Markandya and Mikel González-Eguino (2018), the costs of loss and damage in low- and middle-income countries could reach between US$290 billion to US$580 billion a year by 2030.

UN Secretary-General António Guterres has called for windfall taxes on fossil fuel corporations.

In 2020, the financing gap for achieving universal social protection coverage and healthcare in low- and lower- middle-income countries was US$440.8 billion.

The financing gap to provide universal access to pre-primary, primary and secondary education in low and lower-middle income countries was estimated in 2019 at US$148 billion a year between 2020 and 2030.

Oxfam reaction to UN report on civilian casualties in Ukraine conflict

Oxfam welcomes today’s Open Debate on the UN’s 2023 Annual Report on Children and Armed Conflict, which highlights the urgent need for all parties involved in armed conflicts to respect their international obligations and to prioritise the protection of children.

Oxfam spokesperson Nicola Bay said: “Oxfam is deeply concerned with the findings of the UN’s new report, including of the shocking number of children killed and maimed last year in the conflict in Ukraine. Most of these casualties were as a result of explosive weapons, which is clearly in breach of international humanitarian law. Oxfam urges all parties involved in the conflict to take immediate measures to prevent violations against civilians, particularly children, including by them cooperating with the UN and other relevant entities. Parties must respect international humanitarian law that explicitly prohibits attacks on civilians, including children, and is intended to ensure that essential services such as schools and hospitals are protected from harm. All parties must stop using explosive weapons in populated areas and grant humanitarian agencies unimpeded access for their efforts.”

Notes to editors

As a result of the escalation of the war in Ukraine in February 2022, Oxfam mobilised to provide vital humanitarian assistance to the most vulnerable people affected by the crisis both in Ukraine and those who fled to countries in the region. We are primarily working with 35 local civil society organisations who are already supporting displaced people and the communities that host them. Together we have supported more than 1.2 million people across Ukraine, Poland, Romania, and Moldova.

Statement Of Solidarity: Oxfam Condemns The Killing Of Union Leader, Shahidul Islam

Oxfam stands in solidarity with the Bangladesh Garment and Industrial Workers Federation (BGIWF), trade union leaders and all human rights defenders who stand up for workers’ rights and protect human rights.

Oxfam learned of the horrific news of the brutal murder of Shahidul Islam, a union leader who was beaten to death on June 25th for his labour rights activism in Gazipur, a major garment industry hub on the outskirts of Dhaka, Bangladesh. He was an organizer of the BGIWF for 25 years advocating for workers’ rights as a trade union organizer, and was attacked and killed for standing up for basic human rights. We mourn not only the loss of an individual but also the loss of a powerful voice that championed the rights and well-being of workers, including the right to a living wage. We extend our sincere condolences to the grieving family, friends, colleagues and allies mourning his loss.

Kalpona Akter, the president of BGIWF, said: “Shahidul mobilised thousands of workers to join unions, empowering them to become solid factory-level trade union leaders. Throughout his life, he assisted thousands of workers in receiving arrears and severance pay wrongfully denied by their employers. With workers’ needs always in mind, Shahidul and three other union leaders met on the evening of his death to discuss a peaceful resolution to a wage dispute and the Eid-ul-Azha festival bonus. He met his fate due to the industry’s ill practice to promote yellow unionism for years and the neglect of workers’ voices. This needs to stop. Let our workers be free to organize and join unions. Shahid’s contributions to the labour movement were remarkable and will be sorely missed.”

Ahmed Sharif, a union organizer who was wounded in the attack, told the Guardian “As soon as we came out of the gate, a group of assailants grabbed Islam and separated him from us. They started cursing and randomly beating us, particularly Islam, some of them were kicking him mercilessly.”

As an organisation dedicated to the fight to end poverty and injustice, we are deeply concerned by the murder of Shahidul Islam. This tragic incident highlights the vulnerability of union leaders and activists fighting for workers’ rights. Oxfam joins BGIWF in demanding a thorough investigation and ensure justice is served for the death of Islam. We further call on all brands and stakeholders to conduct ethical purchasing practices upholding human rights within their supply chain and paying a living wage. We call on the government of Bangladesh to step up their protection of trade unionists who are exercising their fundamental human rights to freedom of association and collective bargaining.

Oxfam stands in solidarity with BGIWF, raising a resounding call for justice in the case of Shahidul Islam and demanding the unwavering safety of workers, union members and human rights defenders. We stand united in their relentless struggle to defend workers’ rights at Prince Jacquard Sweaters Ltd factory and in workplaces across Bangladesh. Together we demand accountability and an end to the systemic violations that perpetuate injustice.

#Justice4Shahidul

Background

Shahidul and his colleagues were attacked after leaving the meeting with the management of a factory named Price Jacquard Sweaters Ltd to help the workers collect their due bonuses and wages. The factory management refused to comply despite being directed by the Deputy Commissioner’s (DC) office of Gazipur District to pay the workers’ salaries.

This is not the first time BGIWF has been the victim of such a fatal attack. Eleven years ago, in April 2012, another worker leader, Aminul Islam was tortured and murdered. Aminul was also an organizer with BGIWF, a vital contributor to the nation’s striving movement to advance workers’ rights. The murders of human rights defenders exemplify the extreme measures employed to suppress freedom of association in Bangladesh.

The tragic death of Shahidul, along with countless incidents of other workers being silenced by violence and fear, highlight the urgent need for change. Brands are responsible for ethical business practices and need to ensure that their purchasing practices are not leading to exploitation and deprivation of human rights. Brands must guarantee the right to a living wage and just, safe and healthy working conditions for garment workers.

Despite legal provisions, union leaders and activists face many challenges and restrictions such as anti-union discrimination, harassment, and retaliation against union leaders and members. Additionally, labour activists have raised concerns about the composition and independence of worker participation committees in factories. Labour activists argue that these ‘yellow unions’ are established by factory owners to exert control on workers raising concerns of workers’ rights to collective bargaining and discriminatory power dynamics.

Oxfam Canada, Oxfam Australia and Oxfam Aotearoa’s What She Makes campaign aims to transform the fashion industry into a more just and equitable space by holding brands accountable for their purchasing practices and advocating for a living wage. A living wage is the minimum amount that a worker should earn in a 48-hour work week and adequately covers workers’ and their family’s basic needs, including food, water, housing, energy, healthcare, clothing, childcare, education, transportation and savings for unexpected events. We stand united with the women who make our clothes, advocating for their right to living wages, freedom of association and labour rights.

EU outshines NZ with its vote for Corporate Due Diligence

On 1 June, 2023, the European Parliament voted in favour of the Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CSDDD) shedding light on the lack of similar due diligence regulations here in Aotearoa, especially with regards to international supply chains which Oxfam Aotearoa says it is deeply concerned by. 

For many years trade unions and civil society groups, like Oxfam, have been lobbying for laws to be put in place to ensure living wages, safety and protection in supply chains owned by New Zealand companies. Whilst the conversation around the proposed Modern Slavery and Worker Exploitation law was a step in the right direction, sadly, some areas have fallen through the cracks.  

Women and men working in factories overseas, making the clothes, food and other products that we consume, can and should be treated with dignity. Dignity means upholding human rights standards in terms of paying a living wage, ensuring safe conditions, adopting gender sensitive policies and several other key human rights standards. 

Earlier this year, Oxfam visited women working in factories in Bangladesh, where – due to the lack of policy – women and men suffer severe consequences. One worker named Sabina told Oxfam about the factory where she works, “Due to the target filling pressure, sometimes I can eat and sometimes I cannot. It’s hard to drink water and use the toilet.” Sabina then goes on to say, “Yes, they abuse [me], but if I meet the target, then they don’t abuse. It happens to everyone. I feel sad and I cry for 1 or 2 hours, then I get relief.” These kinds of human rights violations should not be happening. Without fashion brands being made to do their due diligence, this will continue to happen. 

Corporate due diligence is essential to ensure we can detect, prevent and address human rights violations in supply chains. The What She Makes Campaign launched by Oxfam Aotearoa is one such step towards ensuring corporate due diligence. The campaign works with leading fashion brands in Aotearoa to pay a living wage to the women who make our clothes in hundreds of factories situated across the globe.  

Another approach to guarantee corporate due diligence is when governments enact and implement rules and regulations mandating companies to enforce human rights standards in their supply chains.  

The CSDDD, an example of the latter approach, holds the potential to require that companies address issues such as payment of a living wage, ensure human rights standards in their value chains and be held accountable for environmental and/or climate damage caused by such companies. This is a small, yet positive step towards guaranteeing that women and men working along these supply chains are ensured a living wage, safety, and most of all, are treated with human dignity. 

The CSDDD however, also has its shortfalls, such as only capturing a small proportion of companies, failing to remove significant hurdles in victims accessing justice, affording certain exemptions to the financial sector, and failing to include strong accountability measures for directors of companies. As the European Parliament along with the European Commission and the Council of Europe move forward in finalising the wording of the rules following Thursday’s vote, much work is needed to ensure that the CSDDD is made stronger. This will provide meaningful protection and redress mechanisms to millions of women and men around the world. 

As the European block, the UK and Australia move towards abolition of modern slavery, ensuring due diligence and living wage guarantees, this is a good time for Aotearoa to take stock of its own commitments. The What She Makes Campaign’s most recent Transparency Report showed certain New Zealand brands lagging behind in supply chain transparency when compared to international brands. Hence, it is high time to rekindle the conversations around due diligence and modern slavery, and take concrete steps towards holding companies in Aotearoa accountable.  

100 days since Cyclone Freddy, farmers in Malawi and Mozambique have nothing to grow ahead of the winter

Families forced to sell their land or take children out of school to survive.

100 days after Cyclone Freddy hit Malawi and Mozambique, many families have had to sell their farmland or withdraw their children from school in order to use the money to buy food.

Cyclone Freddy – one of the deadliest storms to hit the continent in the last two decades – killed over one thousand people, forced dozens of thousands out of their homes, decimated over one million acres of crop land, ripped apart over 5000 kilometres of roads, powerlines, telecommunications, and public infrastructure such as schools and hospitals were levelled to the ground. In some places, such as in Chiradzulu District in Malawi, a whole village was swept away.

“Torrential floods washed away everything, leaving farmers nothing to harvest. Families told us they have nothing to grow ahead of the winter as they lost their seeds, harvest and agricultural tools forcing them to make desperate decisions to survive,” said Amjad Ali, Oxfam in Southern Africa Programme Director.

“This has hugely contributed to food insecurity in the affected areas and the situation will only get worse if people are not assisted to grow food this winter”.

Production of staple food in Malawi such as maize has plummeted by nearly 30 percent forcing prices to surge. Food Inflation in Malawi has increased by 37.9 % and a 50-kilogram bag of maize costs approximately US$22, a price that is out of reach for most Malawians living on less than US$1 a day. Prices are likely to further rise before the next harvest which is ten months away from now.

Michenga Pensulo, 56, a farmer in Phalombe District in Southern Region of Malawi, said: “I have sold my two acres [piece of land] for MK150 thousand (approx. US$100) because I need to buy food and other household needs. It was a painful decision because I sold it cheaply, but I can’t stand to see my family starve.”

“In situations like these, evidence has shown that women, girls and children suffer the most,” Said Lingalireni Mihowa, Oxfam in Southern Africa Gender Justice Lead. “They often face extraordinary difficulties to secure food, and yet, too often they eat the least and last, and girls are most vulnerable, some may have to drop out school so that savings from school fees can support purchases of food for family to eat”.

“Over seven million people are already facing extreme hunger in the two countries. Unless developing partners immediately meet the US$253.9 million UN appeal, currently 22% funded, to help people rebuild their lives, millions more of people will have nothing to eat”, said Amjad.

Cyclone Freddy is another glaring reminder of how the people least responsible for climate change continue to pay the steepest price. The estimated loss and damage for Malawi and Mozambique is US$0.5 and US$1.5 billion respectively and the unmet financial need for them to strengthen their adaptive capacity to cope with these recurrent extreme events is skyrocketing.

“Rich polluting nations must honor their US$100 billion climate financing to support countries hit hardest like Malawi and Mozambique, sadly that is not the case,” said Amjad.

Oxfam’s “Climate Finance Shadow Report 2023” published in June 2023 shows that while donors claim to have mobilized US$83.3 billion in 2020, the real value of their spending was —at most— US$24.5 billion. The US$83.3 billion claim is an overestimation because it includes projects where the climate objective has been overstated or as loans cited at their face value.

Notes to the Editor

New Oxfam report shows broken promises on climate finance

A new report out this week titled ‘Climate Finance Shadow Report’ from Oxfam shows New Zealand still has much more to do to support poorer countries adapt and respond to the climate crisis.   

Oxfam Aotearoa’s Climate Justice Lead Nick Henry said:  

“Oxfam’s report reveals that as governments around the world begin negotiations of a new global goal for climate finance, rich countries have already broken their promise to deliver US$100 billion a year to assist developing countries.  

“The New Zealand Government is doing better than most on climate finance, but unfortunately the bar is very low. It is time for New Zealand to commit to increasing its climate finance and call on other rich countries to do the same. And deliver on their promises.  

“The new report reveals that globally only a quarter of climate finance is given as grants, meaning most climate finance is provided in the form of loans. Although the New Zealand Government has a long way to go in order to do its fair share, one positive take away is that New Zealand has a strong commitment to give climate finance as grants, not loans.  Loans only increases the burden on poorer countries as they take on expensive debt. Debt created from the failure of rich countries to deliver on their promises. 

“It is also encouraging to see New Zealand increasingly integrate gender-equitable approaches to climate finance, but the Government is a long way off from making sure that the needs of people in all their diversity are met. New Zealand must stand with our whānau in the Pacific – the women, girls, and LGBTIQA+ and others who are on the frontlines of the climate crisis. 

“Rich countries must find new ways to fund climate finance by taxing the wealthiest and the big polluters. In addition, Oxfam Aotearoa calls for new and additional finance to respond to loss and damage caused by climate change. This is a separate negotiation leading up to COP28, and should come with new funding.”  

 

Notes: 

Click here for the report: https://www.oxfam.org.nz/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/Climate-Finance-shadow-report.pdf  

New Zealand’s current climate finance commitments end in 2025. Commitments for the next period from 2026 will need to contribute New Zealand’s fair share of the new global quantified goal on climate finance to be set at COP28 in December. Discussions on the process for setting the new global goal are underway this week in Bonn, at the intersessional meeting of parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change. 

Copyright © 2024 Oxfam Aotearoa.

Oxfam is a worldwide development organisation that mobilises the power of people against injustice. Oxfam Aotearoa is a registered charity with the New Zealand Charities Register (registration CC24641). Donations are tax refundable.

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