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Disaster Divide – How climate chaos deepens inequality and enriches the few

Read full report – Disaster Divide – How climate chaos deepens inequality and enriches the few here.

Billionaires and the super-rich are burning carbon at an extraordinary rate – the richest 0.1%, or 8 million people, have more emissions than the bottom 3.5 billion. The carbon pollution of the richest 1% is directly contributing to increased climate disasters such as floods, fires, droughts and food crises. Their yearly emissions will cause an estimated 1.9 million excess deaths from heat. 

In turn, these climate disasters are not experienced equally. Climate disasters drive up inequality and are also far more lethal because of it. Deaths from flooding, for example, are seven times higher in more unequal countries.

Rich people can insulate themselves, paying more for food or moving to safer places, whereas most people cannot. Moreover, Oxfam’s new research shows how the super-rich are also actually cashing in on climate pain – making huge profits from sky-high food prices and profiting from disasters. Meanwhile, ordinary people, hit by successive climate shocks, struggle to recover. They are more exposed, more vulnerable, and have less savings to rebuild their lives. 

It is possible to break this vicious circle. We can minimize the human harm of climate breakdown by reducing the emissions of the richest people, radically reducing inequality, and ensuring that actions to adapt to climate change have equality at their centre.

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Interviews are available, please reach out to [email protected]

Ultra-rich 0.1% produce more carbon pollution than nearly half of humanity while cashing in on the climate disasters they create

  • Person in the richest 0.1 percent has contributed nearly 400 times more to extreme heatwaves than someone in the poorest half of humanity.
  • Oxfam’s research shows that while the super-rich are responsible for a disproportionate share of carbon pollution, it is ordinary people who bear the brunt of the resulting floods, fires and famine.
  • Oxfam’s new “Destroy & Rebuild Index” exposes how super-rich investors backing fossil fuels and other high-polluting industries are also profiting from disaster preparedness and clean-up.
  • Oxfam urges governments to make rich polluters pay and end climate profiteering.

The world’s richest 0.1 percent (8 million people) produces more carbon pollution than the world’s poorest 3.5 billion people combined, reveals new Oxfam analysis. Published ahead of the UN climate summit (COP31) in Türkiye, the report exposes how the world’s super-rich are driving climate breakdown through their outsized emissions, while shielding themselves from the consequences and, increasingly, profiting from the destruction.

A person in the richest 0.1 percent has contributed nearly 400 times more to today’s extreme heatwaves than someone in the poorest 50 percent. Collectively, this small group of people produces over three times more carbon pollution than the entire population of Sub-Saharan Africa (1.3 billion people).

“The climate crisis is often described as a shared human challenge. It is not. Those who have done the least to cause it are losing their homes, their harvests and, increasingly, their lives. Meanwhile, the super-rich can buy their way out of danger – by retreating to high-tech underground survival bunkers, hiring private firefighting crews, and securing private insurance – and are actively profiting from the consequences of their pollution. This is not a tragedy of shared fate; it is a crime of extreme inequality,” said Oxfam International Executive Director Amitabh Behar.

Combining carbon inequality data with cutting-edge climate attribution models, Oxfam has found that:

  • The richest 1 percent are responsible for 20 percent of global warming since 1990 – 100 times more, per person, than someone in the poorest half of humanity.
  • Just one year of emissions by the richest 1 percent will cause 1.9 million excess heat-related deaths. 78 percent of these deaths will occur in low- and lower-middle-income countries, despite these countries being responsible for 8 percent of global emissions.
  • The emissions of the richest 1 percent will cause nearly $53 trillion in damage by 2050.

Used exclusively by the super-rich, private aviation remains one of the clearest examples of extreme carbon inequality. New analysis by Oxfam of private jet tracking data finds that:

  • Combined, private jets emit more carbon pollution in two seconds than someone in the poorest half of humanity emits in a year.

While the super-rich are responsible for a disproportionate share of carbon pollution, it is ordinary people who bear the brunt of the resulting floods, fires and famine.

“Eight million people produce more carbon pollution than three and a half billion. In places like Tonga and Solomon Islands, families who did the least to cause this crisis are paying for it first, rebuilding after floods and droughts they had no hand in causing. That isn’t bad luck. It follows from who decides where emissions get cut and who pays. At COP31, New Zealand has a seat in that room. It should use it to back taxes on extreme wealth and fossil fuel profits, and push for climate finance that comes as grants, not more debt.” said Oxfam Aotearoa Executive Director Jason Myers.

The super-rich buy safety through private insurance and homes in safer, cooler places. For everyone else, climate disasters mean destroyed homes and crops, depleted savings, and lost livelihoods. This leaves people even more exposed when the next disaster hits, deepening the inequality that made them far more vulnerable to climate disasters in the first place. By 2050, as many as 1 billion people (around 10 percent of the world’s population) could be displaced by the climate crisis. Most of those displaced will be in the Global South.

Oxfam’s new Destroy & Rebuild Index identifies 217 corporations profiting from industries that fuel climate breakdown as well as disaster preparedness, recovery and reconstruction.

BlackRock and Vanguard are invested in 92 percent of the corporations in the index. Their combined investments total more than $1 trillion.

The report also warns that climate disasters are increasingly exploited to push policies that deepen inequality, including the privatization of climate action and public services, land grabs, deregulation and tax breaks benefiting the super-rich. The result is a vicious cycle of injustice: deaths from flooding are seven times higher in more unequal countries.

“The ultra-rich are setting the planet on fire and then charging the rest of us for the extinguishers,” said Behar. “They profit from the pollution. They profit from the disaster. And they profit again from the clean-up.” said Behar.

Oxfam is calling on governments meeting at COP31 to:

  • Make rich polluters pay to significantly and rapidly curb their carbon emissions, including through permanent wealth and income taxes, a permanent tax on fossil fuel corporations, and punitive taxes on high-emitting luxury items like private jets.
  • Substantially increase climate finance for the Global South, prioritizing public, grant-based finance rather than loans that deepen debt. The amount for adaptation should be tripled by 2035.
  • Radically reduce inequality within and between countries, including through climate-resilient public infrastructure and public services.
  • End profiteering from climate disasters. Governments need to curb corporate power in emergency response, reconstruction, and food systems during disasters.

/ENDS

Notes to editors

Download Oxfam’s report “Disaster Divide” and methodology note.

Oxfam’s analysis finds that 1.18 million or 78 percent of excess deaths due to heat will occur in low- and lower-middle-income countries.

Since 1990, carbon emissions from the richest 1 percent have caused global economic output to drop by $2.9 trillion. By 2050, this will rise to $52.6 trillion, equivalent to a 0.5 percent loss of global cumulative GDP over that period. The heaviest economic toll will fall on the countries least responsible for climate change.

According to the International Organization for Migration, as many as 1 billion people could be displaced by the climate crisis by 2050. The frequency and intensity of these events is rising as a direct result of climate change.

Contact information:

Interviews are available, 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.

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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]

Climate Plunder: How a powerful few are locking the world into disaster

Ahead of the major international climate conference COP30 in Belem, Brazil, new Oxfam research finds that the high-carbon lifestyles of the super-rich are blowing through the world’s remaining carbon budget – the amount of CO2 that can be emitted while avoiding climate disaster. The research also details how billionaires are using their political and economic influence to keep humanity hooked on fossil fuels to maximize their private profit.

The report, Climate Plunder: How a powerful few are locking the world into disaster, presents extensive new updated data and analysis 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.

View report here – Climate Plunder: How a powerful few are locking the world into disaster

Contact information:

For more details, please contact: [email protected]

Oxfam says: COP29 deal is a “global Ponzi scheme”

Responding to the COP29 climate finance agreement, in which rich countries agree to mobilize $300 billion a year to help Global South countries cope with warming temperatures and switch to renewable energy, Oxfam International’s Climate Change Policy Lead, Nafkote Dabi, said:

“The terrible verdict from the Baku climate talks shows that rich countries view the Global South as ultimately expendable, like pawns on a chessboard. The $300 billion so-called ‘deal’ that poorer countries have been bullied into accepting is unserious and dangerous —a soulless triumph for the rich, but a genuine disaster for our planet and communities who are being flooded, starved, and displaced today by climate breakdown. And as for promises of future funding? They’re just as hollow as the deal itself.”

Oxfam Aotearoa’s Climate Justice Lead Nick Henry said: “The failure to meet the global need for climate finance is a failure of empathy from the leaders of rich countries.” 

“New Zealand’s climate grants are an essential lifeline for our Pacific region and a positive example of public grants, not debt. Our government needs to continue ramping up this finance to at least meet our fair share of the new global goal.” 

Oxfam International’s Climate Change Policy Lead, Nafkote Dabi continues, “The money on the table is not only a pittance in comparison to what’s really needed –it’s not even real “money”, by and large. Rather, it’s a motley mix of loans and privatized investment –a global Ponzi scheme that the private equity vultures and public relations people will now exploit. The destruction of our planet is avoidable, but not with this shabby and dishonorable deal. The richest polluters need to wise up —and pay up.”

 

Contact information

Rachel Schaevitz in Auckland, NZ | [email protected] | 027 959 5555 
Jeshua Hope in Suva, Fiji | [email protected] | +679 7500889