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Ten years after the Paris Agreement, the super-rich are widening the emissions gap and putting world on track for catastrophe

In response to the UNEP Emissions Gap Report published today, Nafkote Dabi, Climate Policy Lead at Oxfam, said:  

“Just days before global leaders arrive in Brazil for COP30, this report is a blaring siren calling for greater climate action.   

“Since the Paris Agreement, the richest 1% have used up more than twice the carbon budget of the poorest half of humanity. This inequality is more than unjust—it’s deadly. The extreme emissions of the richest people and countries are burning through the little remaining the amount of CO2 that can be emitted while avoiding climate disaster. Meanwhile, the poorest communities suffer the most devastating impacts.  

“Governments cannot close the emissions gap without slashing the carbon footprint of the super-rich and addressing extreme inequality. COP30 must be a turning point. Global leaders must cut the emissions of the richest, tax rich polluters and their profits, and deliver a just transition—one that creates decent green jobs, builds resilient economies, and puts people and planet before profit.”  

Notes to editors

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.  

The “UN Emissions Gap report: Off Target” finds that global warming projections over this century, based on full implementation of updated government climate pledges, are 2.3-2.5°C, while those based on current policies are 2.8°C.

Contact information:

For more details, please contact: 

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

A person from the richest 0.1% produces more carbon pollution in a day than someone in the bottom 50% produces all year

  • Since 1990, the richest 0.1% have increased their share of total emissions by 32%, whilst the poorest half of humanity have actually seen their share fall by 3%.

  • If everyone emitted carbon like the richest 0.1%, the carbon budget – the amount of CO2 that can be emitted while avoiding climate disaster – would be used up in less than 3 weeks.

  • To stay within the limits of the 1.5°C threshold, the richest 0.1% would need to cut their per capita emissions by 99% by 2030. 

  • A person from the world’s richest 0.1% emits over 800 kg of CO2 every day. Even the strongest person on earth could not lift this much. In contrast, someone from the poorest 50% of the world emits an average of just 2 kg of CO2 per day, which even a small child could lift.

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. 

The super-rich are not just overconsuming carbon, but also actively investing in and profiting from the most polluting corporations. Oxfam’s research finds that the average billionaire produces 1.9 million tonnes of CO2e a year through their investments. These billionaires would have to circumnavigate the world almost 10,000 times in their private jets to emit this much. Almost 60% of billionaire investments are classified as being in high climate impact sectors such as oil or mining, meaning their investments emit two and a half times more than an average investment in the S&P Global 1,200. The emissions of the investment portfolios of just 308 billionaires total more than the combined emissions of 118 countries. 

“The climate crisis is an inequality crisis. The very richest individuals in the world are funding and profiting from climate destruction, leaving the global majority to bear the fatal consequences of their unchecked power,” said Amitabh Behar, Executive Director of Oxfam International. 

The power and wealth of super-rich individuals and corporations have also allowed them to wield unjust influence over policymaking and water down climate negotiations. At COP29, 1,773 coal, oil, and gas lobbyists were granted badges, more than the 10 most climate-vulnerable nations combined. Multiple rich and high-emitting countries including the US, UK, France and Germany have watered down climate laws after large donations from anti-climate lobbyists.   

“It is a travesty that power and wealth have been allowed to accumulate in the hands of a few, who are only using it to further entrench their influence and lock us all into a path to planetary destruction. The super-rich and the corporations they run have a deadly track record of bankrolling lobbyists, spreading climate disinformation, and suing NGOs and governments that try to stand in their way. We must break the chokehold of the super-rich over climate policy by taxing their extreme wealth, banning their lobbying and instead put those most affected by the climate crisis in the front seat of climate decision-making,” said Behar. 

The emissions of the richest 1% are enough to cause an estimated 1.3 million heat-related deaths by the end of the century, as well as $44 trillion of economic damage to low- and lower-middle-income countries by 2050. The impacts of these climate damages will disproportionately impact those who have done the least to cause the climate crisis, particularly people living in the Global South, women, girls and Indigenous groups. 

COP30 marks ten years since the Paris Agreement in 2015. During this period, the world’s richest 1% have burnt through more than twice as much of the carbon budget than the poorest half of humanity combined 

Ahead of COP30, Oxfam calls on governments to cut the emissions and dismantle the political and economic power of the super-rich through: 

  • Slashing the emissions of the super-rich and make the richest polluters pay, through taxation on extreme wealth, excess profits taxes on fossil fuel corporations, and supporting the UN Convention on International Tax Cooperation. A 60% tax on the total incomes of the richest 1% globally could cut carbon emissions equivalent to the total emissions of the UK and generate in the region of $6.4 trillion.

  • Curbing the economic and political influence of the richest by banning fossil fuel corporations from climate negotiations such as COP, implementing sustainability regulations for corporations and financial institutions, and rejecting trade and investment agreements like investor-state dispute settlements (ISDS) that put the interests of the super-wealthy above public good.

  • Strengthening the participation of civil society and Indigenous groups in climate negotiations and address the unequal impacts of climate change.

  • Adopting a fair-share approach to the remaining climate budget by committing to nationally determined contributions (NDCs) that reflect historical responsibility and capacity to act, and ensuring rich countries deliver ambitious climate finance.

  • Building 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. 

Notes to editors

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

The Stockholm Environment Institute’s Emissions Inequality Dashboard is also available for consultation. 

Oxfam has launched a global petition to Make Rich Polluters Pay. 

Contact information:

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

Ten years on from the Paris Agreement, rich countries’ pitiful climate targets fall drastically short

In response to the latest Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) synthesis report published yesterday, Nafkote Dabi, Climate Lead at Oxfam, said:

“Ten years on from the Paris Agreement, we now see revealed a damning indictment of the collective failure of global leaders to address the climate crisis. The richest and most polluting countries have betrayed the people being hit the hardest by climate disasters, particularly those in low-income countries, Indigenous people and women.

Countries’ climate plans will reduce global emissions by just 10% by 2035, far short of what is needed. Science is clear: emissions must fall by at least 60% from 2019 levels in order to avoid climate breakdown. The EU has failed to even submit a new NDC while the US has withdrawn totally from the Paris Agreement and is slashing its already minimal climate finance.”

Oxfam Aotearoa’s Climate Justice Lead, Nick Henry, added: “”Despite the global need to strengthen climate action, New Zealand is not even on track to meet our existing commitments. We need our leaders in Government to show us a plan for real action to keep their promises and reduce emissions.”

Nafkote Dabi continued, “China’s first emissions reduction target of 7-10% from peak levels by 2035 is a step forward but still falls short of aligning with global climate goals. Brazil, host of COP30, despite being a climate leader, continues to approve new oil exploration in the heart of the Amazon – a contradiction that undermines its credibility.

The COP30 Summit next month must put humanity onto a safer path by insisting that world leaders deliver much bolder and more equitable NDCs than the inconsistent and inadequate collection that currently sit on its table. Central to any progress must be the tackling the extreme carbon pollution of the super-rich: the emissions of the 1% alone are predicted to cause 1.3 million heat-related deaths by the end of the century, and blow through the world’s remaining carbon budget.

The richest countries and richest people are locking the world into a catastrophic trajectory which COP30 must arrest.”

Notes to editors:

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.

Research by Oxfam International and CARE Climate Justice Centre finds that two thirds of climate finance is currently in the form of loans, increasing the debt burden on poor countries, which stands at $3.3 trillion. The $100 billion annual commitment agreed at COP15 remains unmet, and the $1.3 trillion needed for mitigation and adaptation has also not been delivered.

Research by Oxfam International finds that the energy consumed by the wealthiest 1% – predominantly in the Global North – alone would be enough to meet the basic energy needs of people without electricity access seven times over.

Research by the United Nations finds that emissions cuts of 42 per cent are needed by 2030 and 57 per cent by 2035 to get the world on track for 1.5°C. 

Contact information:

For more details, please contact: [email protected]

25 years on from UN pledge, local women’s rights organisations and peacebuilders get just 0.1% of aid as donors pour billions into arms

The same governments that pledged support in 2000 to the UN’s flagship resolution on “Women, Peace and Security” (WPS) have since spent 25 years paying it lip-service, according to a new Oxfam report today that reviews its progress.

The report called “Beyond Rhetoric” shows that while military spending has risen by $1.5 trillion in 84 countries in 2024, aid for gender equality and peace fell by 7.1%. Women’s organizations are now getting less than half a cent of every dollar of aid.

Amina Hersi, Oxfam’s Head of Gender, Rights and Justice, said: “Feminist-led peace hasn’t failed – it has been betrayed”.

“A generation after world leaders promised women a seat at the table, the same powerful states that authored the blueprint have simply not backed it properly. Women peacebuilders are being left to nurture shattered communities, shouldering most of the responsibility but without enough political space or financial backing to do so.”

Oxfam warns that promises made toward securing women’s leadership in peace and security building are collapsing.

Case studies from Colombia, the DRC, the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT), and South Sudan find that national action plans remain mostly empty pledges, even as rising militarization means that important women rights actors and peacebuilders become further sidelined.

NATO members alone have increased defence spending by $159 billion over the past decade, while global funding for gender-responsive peace has flatlined and is now in freefall.

The same NATO powers touting feminist foreign policies and National Action Plans on WPS —including Canada, the US, the UK and France — along with the UN Security Council, have largely failed to act in the face of atrocities in the DRC, the OPT, South Sudan and beyond.

Funding for global gender, conflict, peace and security aid only accounts for just 2.6 per cent ($7.5 billion) of total ODA ($289 billion). Of the $148 million in global gender, peace and security aid that went to women’s rights in 2023, only $4.7 million – 3.1% – actually reached local women rights organisations. More starkly, between 2014 and 2023, just 0.1 per cent of overall ODA reached women’s rights and women-led organisations directly; while cuts in 2025 threaten to close almost half of such organisations in crisis settings within months.

Attacks on women and girls during conflicts have soared. Verified cases of conflict-related sexual violence rose by 50% in 2023 while the incidence of grave violations against girls increased 35%. The report also highlights:

  • In Colombia, over 180 women human rights defenders were killed in 2023 alone, and the gender provisions in its own peace accord remain among the least implemented.

  • In DRC, only 13% of parliamentary seats are held by women, and there is evidence of high levels of conflict related sexual and gender-based violence and displacement fuelled by mineral extraction and widespread militarisation and conflict.

  • In OPT, Israel’s genocide in Gaza and violent repression in the West Bank, on top of decades of illegal occupation, has resulted in severe violations of the rights and lives of women. These violations include sexual and gender-based violence perpetrated by Israeli forces, as well as restrictions imposed by Israeli authorities, such as military checkpoints and the destruction of health infrastructure, that have denied women access to essential reproductive healthcare and violated their reproductive rights.

  • In South Sudan, women’s 35% political quota has not translated into genuine influence, amid repression and pervasive sexual and gender-based violence used as a weapon of war.  

“Feminist peace is a political imperative, not an optional extra. Unless governments change course now, the WPS agenda will be remembered as just another broken promise,” said Hersi.

“The real contribution of the WPS agenda is not only about including women in peace processes, but instead a fundamental challenge to transform unequal power structures. This is a process that continues to be led from the ground by feminist actors, often at great personal risk.”

Following the UN Security Council’s Annual Open Debate on Women Peace and Security, Oxfam is calling for member states to deliver a radical reset and redirect some of their military spending toward peacebuilding.

They should guarantee that at least half of WPS funding goes directly to grassroots women’s rights organisations. They should also do more to enforce accountability for those responsible for genocide, war crimes and sexual and gender-based violence.

“The WPS agenda remains an essential tool for women peacebuilders, women’s rights and feminist actors,” Hersi said.

“Whether it survives as a force for justice depends on the global community backing its principles with the resources and political will to make that potential real. Without this happening, the 25th anniversary of the UN Resolution on Women, Peace and Security will be a mark of its decline, not its maturity.”

Notes to the editor

Contact information:

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

Two thirds of climate funding for Global South is loans as rich countries profiteer from escalating climate crisis

New research by Oxfam and CARE Climate Justice Centre, published today, finds developing countries are now paying more back to wealthy nations for climate finance loans than they receive- for every 5 dollars they receive they are paying 7 dollars back. 65% of funding is delivered in the form of loans.  

This form of crisis profiteering by rich countries is worsening debt burdens and hindering climate action. Compounding this failure, deep cuts to foreign aid threaten to slash climate finance further, betraying the world’s poorest communities who are facing the brunt of escalating climate disasters. 

Some key findings of the report: 

  • Rich countries claim to have mobilized $116 billion in climate finance 2022, but the true value is only around $28-35 billion, less than a third of the pledged amount. 

  • Nearly two thirds of climate finance was made as loans, often at standard rates of interest without concessions. As a result, climate finance is adding more each year to developing countries’ debt, which now stands at $3.3 trillion. Countries like France, Japan, and Italy are among the worst culprits.  

  • Least Developed Countries got only 19.5% and Small Island Developing States 2.9% of total public climate finance over 2021-2022 and half of that was in the form of loans they have to repay.  

  • Developed nations are profiting from these loans, with repayments outstripping disbursements. In 2022, developing countries received $62 billion in climate loans. We estimate these loans to lead to repayments of up to $88 billion, resulting in a 42% “profit” for creditors. 

  • Only 3% of finance specifically aimed at enhancing gender equality, despite the climate crisis disproportionately impacting women and girls. 

Oxfam Aoteraoa’s Climate Justice Lead, Nick Henry said: “New Zealand does well in providing all of our climate finance as grants rather than loans, setting an example for other rich countries to follow.” 

“Rich countries are treating the climate crisis as a business opportunity, not a moral obligation,” said Oxfam’s Climate Policy Lead, Nafkote Dabi. “They are lending money to the very people they have historically harmed, trapping vulnerable nations in a cycle of debt. This is a form of crisis profiteering.” 

This failure is occurring as rich countries are conducting the most vicious foreign aid cuts since the 1960s. Data by the OECD shows a 9% drop in 2024, with 2025 projections signalling a further 9–17% cut. 

As the impacts of fossil fuelled climate disasters intensify —displacing millions of people in the Horn of Africa, battering 13 million more in the Philippines, and flooding 600,000 people in Brazil in 2024 alone – communities in low-income countries are left with fewer resources to adapt to the rapidly changing climate. 

“Rich countries are failing on climate finance and they have nothing like a plan to live up to their commitments to increase support. In fact, many wealthy countries are gutting aid, leaving the poorest to pay the price, sometimes with their lives” said John Nordbo, Senior Climate Advisor at CARE Denmark. “COP30 must deliver justice, not another round of empty promises.” 

“New Zealand’s climate finance commitment is due to run out at the end of this year and urgently needs to be renewed. Pacific communities on the frontlines of the climate crisis need and deserve our ongoing support” said Nick Henry. 

Adaptation funding is also critically underfunded, receiving only 33% of climate finance as investors favour mitigation projects with more immediate financial returns.  

Ahead of COP30, Oxfam and CARE are calling on rich countries to: 

  • Live up to climate finance commitments: Provide the full $600 billion for 2020–2025 and clearly outline how they plan to scale-up to the agreed $300 billion annually, and lead on the $1.3 trillion Baku to Belém roadmap. 

  • Stop crisis profiteering: Drastically increase the share of grants and highly concessional finance to prevent further indebting the world’s most climate-vulnerable communities. 

  • Multiply adaptation finance: Commit to at least triple adaptation finance by 2030, using the COP26 goal to double adaptation financing by 2025 as a baseline. 

  • Provide finance for loss and damage: The global Fund for Responding to Loss and Damage must be adequately capitalized. Victims of climate change must nor continue to be ignored. 

  • Mobilize new sources of finance: Raise funds by taxing the super-rich, which in OECD countries alone can raise $1.2 trillion a year, and the excess profit of fossil fuel companies globally, which could raise $400bn per year annually. 

Notes to Editors  

Download the report. 

Methodology note.   

The CARE Climate Justice Center (CJC) leads and coordinates the integration of climate justice and resilience across CARE International’s development and humanitarian work. The CJC is an initiative powered by CARE Denmark, CARE France, CARE Germany, CARE Netherlands, and CARE International UK. To learn more, visit www.careclimatechange.org 

Results of a global survey by Oxfam International and Greenpeace show 8 out of 10 people support paying for public services and climate action through taxing the super-rich. The research was conducted by first party data company Dynata in May-June 2025, in Brazil, Canada, France, Germany, Kenya, Italy, India, Mexico, the Philippines, South Africa, Spain, the UK and the US. The survey had approximately 1200 respondents per country, with a margin of error of +-2.83%. Together, these countries represent close to half the world’s population. See the results here. 

Contact information:

For interviews or further information, please contact: 

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