Report

Oxfam reaction: Tax report by Sapere Research commissioned by tax firm Oliver Shaw

April 19, 2023

This report does not paint the full picture of how income is made by New Zealanders. The report’s failure to consider GST and capital gains is a massive weakness. The research also ignores the failure of the New Zealand system to tax wealth, except as rates, unlike most other high-income countries. Without these essential pieces to the puzzle, we cannot fully understand what may be fair or unfair.

Instead, we get fed the same old tired story that the wealthy are paying their fair share – a story that is just not true. The truth is that the wealthiest only pay an effective income tax rate of 12 percent, as opposed to the majority of New Zealanders who pay a rate of up to 31 percent.

We – as organisations that fight for economic justice – are confident this research will be superseded by soon to be released findings from Inland Revenue research that will, for the first time, reveal statistics about actual tax paid by high wealth individuals.

Oxfam reaction to IPCC’s Synthesis Report

March 21, 2023

Responding to the publication today of the IPCC’s Synthesis Report (SYR), Oxfam’s Climate Justice Lead Nick Henry said:

“This is, literally, the last chapter. The science shows that limiting global heating to 1.5°C is still possible —but only just. Unless we pull the emergency brake on deadly carbon pollution, ‘unheard-of’ heatwaves, storms, droughts and floods will continue to become more frequent and hit more places and people. People living in poverty are bearing the brunt of these climate-induced crises, including mass hunger happening now in Eastern Africa, with a rise of just 1.1°C.

“It’s outrageous that after six massive IPCC reports, 27 climate change conferences, eight hottest years on record, and multiple one-in-one-hundred year extreme weather events —with emissions still rising— governments continue to encourage the oil and gas industry to drill deeper and wider for fossil fuels. More than 600 fossil fuel lobbyists were at COP27 and an oil boss will lead the next climate talks in Dubai.

“Oil giants raked in record profits in 2022. They are extracting these riches from a stricken planet. Their statements of ecological concern ring hollow. If governments had clawed back the massive profits that oil and gas producers funneled to their rich shareholders last year, they could have increased global investments in renewable energy by nearly one-third.

“We can tackle the climate crisis and end poverty. This is not an either-or. If the richest 1 percent stopped squandering so much carbon on private jets, big polluting cars and investments in fossil fuels, the poorest half of humanity could grow their tiny carbon footprints to get their basic needs met.

“To stay within the 1.5°C guardrail, every person on Earth would need to stay below an average of 2.2 tons of CO2 emissions per year by 2030. The richest 1 percent exhaust this remaining ‘carbon budget’ in just 12 days each year, while the poorest 50 percent of humanity emits less than half over an entire year. This inequality is absolutely ridiculous.

“There’s only a sliver of a chance of limiting heating to 1.5°C but we can’t throw in the towel. Every fraction of a degree of heating prevented will be counted in millions of lives saved. Even a half-degree could make it much more difficult to grow crops, raise animals and catch fish.

“We need funds for climate action and deep cuts to emissions —not just by the richest countries, but also by the wealthiest individuals and corporations. Rich countries are most responsible for the climate crisis and must pay their debt to poorer countries by providing sufficient money for adaption, shifting to renewable energy, and addressing loss and damage. There is neither enough time nor carbon left for empty pledges and false solutions like carbon capture and storage. Endless adaptation to climate change is not possible —we need a fast and equitable phase-out of fossil fuels. Otherwise, a catastrophe for people in every country will be just around the corner, and it will be painful.”

Notes

According to the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), the past eight years were the warmest on record globally, fueled by ever-rising greenhouse gas concentrations and accumulated heat.

At least 363 fossil fuel lobbyists were granted access to COP27.

Big Oil more than doubled its profits in 2022 to US$219 billion, more than the GDP of many countries. According to Janus Henderson Investors, the dividends of oil and gas producers totaled US$151.8 billion in 2022. The IEA reports that $472 billion was invested in renewable power in 2022. (151.8/472)*100 equals 32.2 percent.

Keeping to 1.5°C would require limiting emissions to 17Gt of CO2. Divided equally among the global population, this is approximately 2.2 tons per person. The richest 1 percent will emit this amount of carbon in 12 days, the richest 10 percent in slightly over a month, and the poorest half of humanity will emit less than half over an entire year. These calculations are based on analysis published in Oxfam’s “Carbon Inequality in 2030” briefing note in 2021. Oxfam will publish new research on carbon inequality in 2023.

Oxfam’s research found that the investments of just 125 billionaires emit 393 million tons of CO2e each year —the equivalent of France— at an individual annual average that is a million times higher than someone in the bottom 90 percent of humanity.

According to the World Inequality Lab, eradicating global poverty below US$5.50 would entail an increase in carbon emissions of approximately 18 percent. This is roughly equivalent to the emissions of the richest 1 percent (15 percent between 1990 and 2015).

Oxfam reacts to The Lancet COVID-19 Commission’s report

September 15, 2022

Responding to The Lancet COVID-19 Commission’s report on lessons for future pandemics, Anna Marriott, Health Policy Manager at Oxfam and Policy Co-Lead for the People’s Vaccine Alliance, said:

“The Lancet Commission details the utter failure of rich country leaders and pharmaceutical companies to ensure the tools needed to end this pandemic were accessible to everyone, everywhere. The findings of this commission should shame the international community. Nationalism, racism, profiteering, and an overreaching intellectual property system all prevented lower-income countries from accessing or producing vaccines.

“It is vital that we learn the lessons of this report, end pharma’s deadly monopolies and build more capacity for the development and manufacturing of vaccines, tests and treatments in low and middle-income countries. Governments need to act immediately to extend an agreement made earlier this year on overriding COVID-19 vaccine patents to cover lifesaving treatments and tests. And they must safeguard World Health Organisation backed efforts to produce mRNA vaccine manufacturing on every continent from the threat of litigation from companies like Moderna. The pandemic treaty currently under discussion needs to make clear that saving lives must come before profits and decisions about who lives and who dies are never again outsourced to the CEOs of big pharma.”

Notes:

Read the Lancet Commission report here: https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(22)01585-9/fulltext

Read more about how Moderna’s patents threaten the WHO-backed South African mRNA hub: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-09-13/groups-ask-ramaphosa-to-protect-mrna-use-against-moderna-patents

Oxfam reaction to IPCC’s Sixth Assessment Report

August 10, 2021

Responding to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s (IPCC) Working Group I contribution to the Sixth Assessment Report (AR6), Oxfam Aotearoa Executive Director Rachael Le Mesurier said:

“Amid a world in parts burning, in parts drowning and in parts starving, the IPCC today tables the most compelling wake-up call yet for global industry to switch from oil, gas, coal and intensive agriculture to renewables and sustainable food production. Governments must use law to compel this urgent change. Citizens must use their own political power and behaviors to push big polluting corporations and governments in the right direction. There is no Plan B.

“The world’s highest-level of political and scientific consensus, the IPCC, describes humanity’s slimmest chance to keep global warming to 1.5°C and avert planetary ruin. It sets the agenda for a make-or-break climate summit in Glasgow later this year. This report is yet more unimpeachable proof that climate change is happening now, and that global warming is already one of the most harmful drivers of worsening hunger and starvation, migration, poverty and inequality all over the world. 

“In recent years, with 1°C of global heating, there have been deadly cyclones in the Pacific and Central America, floods here in Aotearoa and Europe, huge locust swarms across Africa, and unprecedented heatwaves and wildfires across Australia and the US―all turbo-charged by climate change. Over the past 10 years, more people have been forced from their homes by extreme weather-related disasters than for any other single reason―20 million a year, or one person every two seconds. The number of climate-related disasters has tripled in 30 years. Since 2000, the UN estimates that 1.23 million people have died and 4.2 billion have been affected by droughts, floods and wildfires. Kiwis are no exception.

“The richest one percent of people in the world, approximately 63 million people, are responsible for more than twice as much carbon pollution as the 3.1 billion people who make up the poorest half of humanity. The people with money and power will be able to buy some protection against the effects of global warming for longer than people without those privileges and resources ―but not forever. No one is safe. This report is clear that we are at the stage now when self-preservation is either a collective process or a failed one. 

“Global warming is a base factor behind all of today’s huge regressions in human development. The main perpetrators of global warming ―that is, rich countries like New Zealand that have reaped massive wealth by burning fossil fuels and intensifying agriculture― must be the ones to cut their emissions first, fastest and furthest. They must also pay their climate debt to developing countries by scaling up finance to help them adapt to the effects of climate change and transition to clean energy. Other major polluters don’t get a free pass and must also drastically cut emissions. The world has as much to gain in terms of human safety, development, opportunity and jobs by running a global economy on renewables and sustainable food production, as it has to lose in continuing dirty business-as-usual.

“Very few nations ―and none of the world’s wealthy nations, New Zealand included― have submitted climate plans consistent with keeping warming below 2°C, let alone 1.5°C. If global emissions continue to increase, the 1.5°C threshold could be breached as early as the next decade. The IPCC report must spur governments to act together and build a fairer and greener global economy to ensure the world stays within 1.5°C of warming. They must cement this in Glasgow. Rich country governments must meet their $100 billion-a-year promise to help the poorest countries grapple with the climate crisis ―according to Oxfam, not only have they collectively failed to deliver on their promise, but New Zealand is one of the lowest contributors per capita, far below its fair share of the collective goal.”

/ENDS

Notes:

Extreme weather-related disasters were the number one driver of internal displacement over the last decade, forcing more than 20 million people a year ―one person every two seconds― to leave their homes. For more information, download Oxfam’s briefing Forced from Home.

According to the UN, a sharp rise in the number of droughts, floods and wildfires has claimed 1.23 million lives and affected 4.2 billion people since 2000.

The richest one percent were responsible for 15 percent of emissions added to the atmosphere between 1990 and 2015 ―more than all the citizens of the EU and more than twice that of the poorest half of humanity (7 percent). The richest 10 percent accounted for over half (52 percent) of emissions during this time. For more information, download Oxfam’s report Confronting Carbon Inequality. New Zealanders’ carbon footprint is more than 13 times that of the global poorest 50% (9.3 vs 0.69 tCO2/year)

Oxfam’s Climate Finance Shadow Report 2020 offers an assessment of progress towards the USD100 billion goal. It considers how climate finance is being counted and spent, where it is going, how close we are to the USD100 billion goal, and what lessons need to be learned for climate finance post-2020. Oxfam Aotearoa’s Standing with the Frontlines 2020 report outlines New Zealand’s fair share of the USD 100 billion goal.

Oxfam recently reported that there has been a six-fold increase in people suffering famine-like conditions since pandemic began.

Oxfam supports a range of climate projects across the world, and works with local communities most impacted by the climate crisis. For example, we are helping rural farming communities in Timor-Leste earn a decent income, pioneering a cash transfer program in Vanuatu that uses blockchain to provide quick and targeted support to households worst hit by cyclones, and connecting civil society organisations in Solomon Islands to ensure that climate adaptation funds reach those who need it most.

Oxfam Aotearoa reacts to the Climate Change Commission’s report

June 9, 2021

Oxfam Aotearoa reacts to the historic Climate Change Commission report released today at parliament that outlines recommendations for Aotearoa, New Zealand’s climate action over the next 15 years.  

Oxfam Aotearoa’s Campaign Lead Alex Johnston says that report marks a step up in the country’s response to climate change, but that the final does not reflect the urgency around the current climate crisis we’re in. Johnston says that although we can’t deny this is a historic moment, we need to do more. 

“The Climate Change Commission’s report draws a line in the sand for the bare minimum of what the government should be doing to reduce New Zealand’s climate pollution. However, if adopted using the timeframes currently proposed, they won’t make much of a difference.

“Aotearoa needs to do more to achieve its fair share of keeping to 1.5 degrees, so that our friends, colleagues and loved ones in the Pacific and beyond do not have to endure rising poverty, lack of food, moving homes, loss of culture. Greater action is needed in prior to 2030 to ensure a safe climate future for all.”

The recently released report will be used to inform New Zealand’s upgraded target at COP26, the global climate talks in Glasgow, later this year.

Johnston says that Aotearoa is getting left further behind as other countries race to step up their commitments under the Paris Agreement:  

“The US has a target of 50% reductions by 2030, compared to 2005 levels. The UK has a target of 68% reductions by 2030, compared to 1990 levels. And now compare this to New Zealand’s target of 30% reduction by 2030 (compared to 2005 levels), and you can see how we have a problem.” 

New Zealand’s agricultural sector is responsible for around half of the country’s total Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions, but only has a 10% reduction target by 2030 under the Zero Carbon Act.  Earlier this year Oxfam Aotearoa urged the Commission to greatly enhance their emissions budgets with agriculture in mind.

“The government continues to let agricultural emissions off the hook, and this is reflected in the Commission’s report – it’s the area where planned reductions are most clearly not aligned with 1.5-degree pathways, and this is holding back how ambitious we can be in our international 2030 target,” said Johnston.

“What we need is to invest in supporting farmers to diversify land uses. Cutting climate pollution from agriculture should include specific and direct regulations on the sources of pollution and rewarding those already farming sustainably, pricing agriculture into the Emissions Trading Scheme, and using the revenue to fund the transition to sustainable food productions.   

“The reality is this: unfortunately, in order for Aotearoa to uphold its end of the agreement to keep warming within 1.5 degrees Celsius, our government either need to do much more to reduce methane pollution at home, or we will need to spend billions of dollars of offshore carbon credits. Essentially passing on an unfair burden of reducing emissions to developing nations like our Pacific neighbours to do our work for us. 

“We cannot embed our sky-high methane emissions caused by industrial agribusiness at the expense of small-scale farmers around the world growing food for their communities. These are people that have contributed the least to the problem, and are facing disruption to their food security due to climate change. That is not climate justice.”   

For interview opportunities and more info:

David Bull, Oxfam Aotearoa
[email protected]

Notes to editors 

The richest 10% accounted for over half (52%) of the emissions added to the atmosphere between 1990 and 2015. The richest 1% were responsible for 15% of emissions during this time – more than all the citizens of the EU and more than twice that of the poorest half of humanity (7%).

Download Oxfam’s report, ‘Confronting Carbon Inequality,’ for more information. 

The combined climate plans submitted by countries account to a dismal 1% emissions reduction, which is way off track from the targeted 45% reduction needed to limit global warming below 1.5 degrees, and to avoid disastrous impacts on vulnerable communities. 

The government is also reviewing New Zealand’s Paris Agreement target for emissions reductions by 2030, our ‘Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC)’, which the Commission found to currently be inconsistent with global efforts to stay within 1.5C of global heating. New Zealand is one of the countries yet to increase its NDC target ahead of COP26, the global climate talks in Glasgow in November. 

Oxfam New Zealand’s 2020 report ‘A Fair 2030 Target for Aotearoa’ found that New Zealand’s fair share of effort for keeping to 1.5 degrees would be no less than an 80% reduction from 1990 levels by 2030. 

Oxfam’s Response to Coronavirus

June 16, 2020

As the outbreak of the novel coronavirus continues, Oxfam is gearing up its entire humanitarian aid delivery system to help the poorest and most marginalised people as they face the rising tide of infections ahead. Despite access restrictions, we are working around the clock with our local partners in more than 60 countries to deliver much needed assistance to curb to spread of the virus and help protect communities from its economic impact.

We have forged new and existing partnerships with 344 local civil society organisations across 62 countries. This network that includes all the work that Oxfam teams are implementing directly, is part of the fabric of how local communities themselves are responding in their own contexts and helping each other to adapt and survive. Together, we have reached over 4.5m people to date, with an aim to reach 14m people. The report below summarises the impact of our ongoing response.