Oxfam logo
The Future is Equal
Oxfam logo in green

climate justice

Oxfam Aotearoa reaction to the New Zealand Government’s release of Budget 2026

“This budget fails to deliver on New Zealand’s promises to stand by our neighbours in the Pacific who are struggling with the impacts of climate change.” said Nick Henry, Advocacy and Policy Lead for Oxfam Aotearoa.

“After cutting $100m a year from international climate action last year, the Government now promising $33m from June 2027 is too little, too late.

“Last year’s budget left a hole in funding for our neighbours in the Pacific. A promise to fill a third of that hole in a year’s time will not be much consolation to communities who are suffering now from the escalating impact of the climate crisis.”

 

Contact information:

[email protected]

Oxfam reaction to the outcome of the Santa Marta conference on transitioning away from fossil fuels

In response to the outcome of the First Conference on Transitioning Away from Fossil Fuels in Santa Marta, Colombia, Oxfam Climate Policy Lead Mariana Paoli said:

“The fact that more than 50 countries came together to start developing a path to move away from fossil fuels must be celebrated. The People’s Summit demonstrated that there are many ways to implement a just transition, and the crucial role civil society can play in this process.

“However, it is disappointing that wealthy governments have still not stepped up to provide sufficient climate financing for poorer countries, which face the brunt of the impacts of the climate crisis, to make this move. Rich countries hold the historical responsibility for the climate crisis, therefore they must not only move first and faster but also provide finance at scale for others to follow them.

“A just transition must make rich polluters pay for the crisis they have caused. While households around the world struggle with skyrocketing energy prices amidst geopolitical instability, the biggest fossil fuel corporations rake in record-breaking profits, with most of those gains going into the hands of the richest 1 percent. Taxing the super-rich and big polluters to fund a just transition is the obvious viable solution that governments must choose.

“Santa Marta is just the first step of the process to a just transition. Between now and the next conference that will be hosted by Tuvalu and Ireland in 2027, governments must continue to build a momentum for a fair and equitable energy transition.”

Notes to Editors

In the context of the global energy crisis, Oxfam commissioned new polling by market research company Norstat in April 2026, from people in seven countries (UK, France, Brazil, Turkey, Australia, the Netherlands and Colombia). It found that three times as many citizens supported greater government investment in renewable energy compared to increasing fossil fuel extraction, and approximately two thirds (68 percent) supported increasing taxes on the profits of large oil and gas corporations to help fund the transition to renewables. Download the results.

Contact information:

[email protected]

Fossil fuel companies projected to earn almost $3,000 a second in 2026 while families struggle to afford energy bills worldwide

Six of the biggest fossil fuel companies are projected to earn $2,967 a second in profits in 2026, new Oxfam research finds, ahead of the first global conference this week on Transitioning Away from Fossil Fuels in Santa Marta, Colombia.

This marks an increase of almost $37 million a day compared to the 2025 profits of these six corporations – Chevron, Shell, BP, ConocoPhillips, Exxon and TotalEnergies. Their total projected fossil fuel profits of 2026 are $94 billion: enough to provide solar power for the energy needs of almost 50 million people in Africa.

In the context of the global energy crisis, Oxfam commissioned new polling in seven countries. It found that three times as many citizens supported greater government investment in renewable energy compared to increasing fossil fuel extraction, and approximately two thirds (68 percent) supported increasing taxes on the profits of large oil and gas corporations to help fund the transition to renewables.

Currently, families around the world continue to be pushed into energy poverty as geopolitical instability, the impacts of escalating violence in the Middle East that has already taken many lives, and the sharp increase in the wealth of the super-rich in contrast to everyone else is leaving ordinary people struggling to make ends meet.

A huge proportion of the profits from fossil fuels are going straight into the pockets of the wealthiest 1%, based mainly in the Global North, who are profiting from the subsequent climate destruction these corporations cause while working to maintain global dependence on fossil fuels by monopolising wealth and political influence.

“A just transition away from fossil fuels must support people in poorer countries, who face the brunt of climate disasters while their governments are forced to spend more money on repaying debts than on education or health, let alone climate adaptation,” said Mariana Paoli, Climate Policy Lead at Oxfam. “Taxing the richest polluters who have no intention of investing in a clean future is central to a just transition. At Santa Marta, governments must end the pollutocrat era.”

Fossil fuel corporations and the super-rich that profit from them are entrenching inequality and turning their backs on the people most impacted by the fossil fuel-driven climate crisis. Just last month, ExxonMobil announced a significant reduction of a third of its planned investment in low-carbon energy projects and TotalEnergies refused to adopt a net zero transition plan aligned with 1.5 degrees.

At Santa Marta, Oxfam urges governments to:

  • Scale up public climate finance. Introduce measures to tax the corporations and the super-rich profiting from fossil fuels and the cost-of-living crisis, including through a Rich Polluter Profit Tax on fossil fuel corporations and an Excess Profit Tax across all sectors. They must tackle unsustainable sovereign debt through debt cancellation, fair restructuring, and by adopting a UN framework on sovereign debt.

  • Put justice at the heart of the energy transition through principles of responsible divestment. States and fossil fuel corporations must address the environmental damage and livelihood loss they’ve caused and centre the rights and participation of those communities most impacted by extractive industries.

  • Implement an equity-based roadmap to end fossil fuels that reflects the historical responsibility, financial capacity and fossil fuel dependence of different states.

ENDS

Notes to editors

Download our methodology note.

The global poll, conducted by market research company Norstat in April 2026, gathered responses from people in seven countries (UK, France, Brazil, Turkey, Australia, the Netherlands and Colombia). The polling also showed that support for taxing oil and gas corporations to fund the renewable energy transition crossed party lines. In six of the countries, there were more far-right respondents who supported such a tax, than those who opposed it. Download the results.

Oxfam’s report “Unjust Transition” outlines how the richest 0.1 percent are undermining efforts at a just energy transition through overconsumption of the carbon budget and investing in fossil-intensive industries. If just one year’s energy consumption of the wealthiest 1 percent were redistributed, it could meet the modern energy needs of all the people in the world without electricity seven times over. The cost of the energy needs in different countries is in the report methodology note.

See Oxfam Aotearoa’s report “Closing Time” on why Aotearoa needs a just transition from fossil fuel production.

Contact information:

For more information or to arrange an interview, please reach out to:

[email protected]

Richest 1% Blow Carbon Budget in 10 Days, says Oxfam

The richest 1% have exhausted their annual carbon budget – the amount of CO2 that can be emitted while staying within 1.5 degrees of warming – only ten days into the year, according to new analysis from Oxfam. The richest 0.1% already used up their carbon limit on the 3rd January.

This day – named by Oxfam as ‘Pollutocrat Day’ – highlights how the super-rich are disproportionately responsible for driving the climate crisis.

The emissions of the richest 1% generated in one year alone will cause an estimated 1.3 million heat-related deaths by the end of the century. Decades of overconsumption of emissions by the world’s super-rich are also causing significant economic damage to low and lower-middle income countries, which could add up to $44 trillion by 2050.

To stay within the 1.5 degrees limit, the richest 1% would have to slash their emissions by 97% by 2030. Meanwhile, those who have done the least to cause the climate crisis – including communities in poorer and climate-vulnerable countries, Indigenous groups, women and girls – will be the worst impacted.

“Time and time again, the research shows that governments have a very clear and simple route to drastically slash carbon emissions and tackle inequality: by targeting the richest polluters. By cracking down on the gross carbon recklessness of the super-rich, global leaders have an opportunity to put the world back on track for climate targets and unlock net benefits for people and the planet,” said Oxfam’s Climate Policy Lead Nafkote Dabi.

On top of their lifestyle emissions, the super-rich are also investing in the most polluting industries. Oxfam’s research finds that each billionaire carries, on average, an investment portfolio in companies that will produce 1.9 million tonnes of CO2 a year, further locking the world into climate breakdown.

The wealthiest individuals and corporations also hold disproportionate power and influence. The number of lobbyists from fossil fuel companies attending the recent COP summit in Brazil, for example, was more than any delegation apart from the host nation, with 1600 attendees.

“The immense power and wealth of super-rich individuals and corporations have also allowed them to wield unjust influence over policymaking and water down climate negotiations,” Nafkote Dabi added.

Oxfam calls on governments to slash the emissions of the super-rich and make rich polluters pay through:

• Increase taxes on income and wealth of the super-rich and proactively support and engage on the negotiations for the UN Convention of International Tax Cooperation to deliver a fairer global architecture.

• Excess profit taxes on fossil fuel corporations. A Rich Polluter Profits Tax on 585 oil, gas and coal companies could raise up to US $400 billion in its first year, equivalent to the cost of climate damages in the Global South.

• Ban or punitively tax carbon-intensive luxury items like super-yachts and private jets. The carbon footprint of a super-rich European, accumulated from nearly a week of using super yachts and private jets, matches the lifetime carbon footprint of someone in the world’s poorest 1 percent.

• Build an equal economic system that puts people and planet first by rejecting dominant neoliberal economics and moving towards an economy based on sustainability and equality.

ENDS

Notes to editors

According to the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) Emissions Gap Report 2024, the median estimate of emissions level in 2030 consistent with limiting global heating to around 1.5°C is 24 GtCO2e (range: 20–26), which is equivalent to approximately 17.8 GtCO2 based on the 2019 share of CO2 emissions in greenhouse gas emissions (74.1 per cent).

According to the UN, the global population is projected to reach 8.5 billion in 2030. Dividing the 1.5°C compatible 2030 emissions level (17.8 GtCO2) equally by 8.5 billion gives an estimate of an annual carbon budget of 2.1t CO2 per person.

Oxfam’s latest research into climate and inequality, using data from the Stockholm Environment Institute, finds that the richest 1% emit 75.1 tonnes per person per year (using 2023 data, the latest available data), or 0.206 tonnes per person per day, which means that 10.2 days of emissions is enough to use the 2.1t CO2 budget.

Further information about carbon budgets and the data behind Oxfam’s research can be found within this methodology note.

The latest Oxfam report, “Climate Plunder: How a powerful few are locking the world into disaster”, presents new data which finds that a person from the richest 0.1% produces more carbon pollution in a day than the poorest 50% emit all year. If everyone emitted like the richest 0.1%, the carbon budget would be used up in less than 3 weeks.

Oxfam’s latest briefing paper, How to increase taxes on fossil fuel profits – Oxfam Policy & Practice proposes a Rich Polluter Profit Tax on fossil fuel corporations to help ensure renewable energy investments are always more profitable than fossil fuels. It also proposes an Excess Profit Tax on all other sectors to curb market concentration and accumulation of extreme wealth. These measures could raise over US$1 trillion in their first year.

According to Oxfam’s report, “A planet for the Richest 99%”, the emissions of the super-rich 1% in 2019 were enough to cause 1.3 million deaths due to heat.

Oxfam’s report, “Climate Inequality Kills”, found that the outsized consumption emissions of the world’s super-rich 1% over four decades (1990–2030) alone are causing significant net economic damage, with low- and lower-middle-income countries being most affected. Between 1990 and 2050, low- and lower-middle-income countries will accrue economic damage totalling $44 trillion.

The International Court of Justice (ICJ), the world’s highest court, has confirmed that countries have a legal obligation to reduce emissions enough to protect the universal rights to life, food, health, and a clean environment.

Contact information:

For more details, please contact: [email protected]

How to Increase Taxes on Fossil Fuel Profits

Taxing excess profits, both in the fossil fuel industry and the overall corporate sector, is essential to restructure the economy to tackle climate breakdown, reduce inequality and make rich polluters pay. This briefing paper sets out Oxfam’s proposal for two taxes: a Rich Polluter Profit Tax (RPPT) on fossil fuel corporations, and an Excess Profit Tax (EPT) across all other sectors. An RPPT will ensure renewables are always more profitable than fossil fuel investments, and an EPT will reduce market concentration and the concentration of wealth, reducing inequality. Both can be implemented through existing corporate tax systems. Together, they could raise over US $1 trillion in their first year, which could fund vital investments for people and the planet. The paper explains how governments can design, administer and coordinate these taxes nationally and globally, to fund a just, gender responsive climate transition and fairer public finance.

View report here – How to Increase Taxes on Fossil Fuel Profits

Contact information:

For more details, please contact: [email protected]

Simon Watts Was Right About Pacific Climate Support at COP30. Now We Must Deliver.

At COP30 in Brazil, New Zealand has joined other higher-income countries in reaffirming their pledge to triple climate funding for lower-income countries by 2035. Oxfam Aotearoa is calling on the New Zealand Government to make good on that promise to our Pacific neighbours.

Climate Change Minister Simon Watts told COP30: ‘In the Pacific, climate change is not a distant threat; it is a lived reality.’ Minister Watts went on to praise New Zealand’s international climate finance programme, saying: ‘we provide high-quality, grants-based, accessible, partner-responsive climate support, with over half going to adaptation action.’

But with funding for New Zealand’s international climate programme running out in December 2025, Oxfam Aotearoa is calling on the New Zealand Government to explain how this promise will be delivered.

“Minister Watts is right, New Zealand provides high-quality funding for Pacific communities to adapt to the lived reality of climate change. Let’s keep up the good work.” said Nick Henry, Oxfam Aotearoa’s Advocacy and Policy Lead.

“Oxfam Aotearoa is glad to hear Minister Watts reaffirm New Zealand’s promise to stand with the Pacific by funding essential climate adaptation projects. With only a month to go until the current programme runs out, we look forward to a further announcement on how this promise will be funded.”

Notes for editors:

Oxfam Aotearoa’s recent report Pacific Resilience: How funding for climate action strengthens our region shows the positive difference that climate funding from New Zealand has made since this support was increased from 2022.

Contact information:

For more information contact:

Rachel Schaevitz, Head of Communication, Media, & Advocacy: [email protected]