A new Oxfam report reveals that the carbon emissions of a super-wealthy European from nearly a week of superyacht and private jet use equate to the entire lifetime carbon footprint of someone in the world’s poorest 1 percent. This unprecedented study, titled “Carbon Inequality Kills,” examines emissions from private jets, yachts, and high-pollution investments, released just ahead of COP29 in Baku, Azerbaijan, as concerns grow that climate disruption is escalating due to the emissions of the wealthiest.
“The super-rich in Europe are treating our planet like their personal playground. Their dirty investments, their private jets and yachts are not just symbols of excess; they are fuelling inequality, hunger and even death”, said Chiara Putaturo, Oxfam EU tax expert.
The report provides striking new insights into how the emissions of the wealthiest are propelling climate degradation and harming lives and economies. The world’s poorest communities, which have contributed the least to the climate crisis, bear the brunt of its most severe impacts.
The Oxfam’s research Found that one ultra-wealthy European averages 140 flights annually, spending 267 hours in the air and producing as much carbon as an average European does over 112 years. In the same span, emissions from an ultra-wealthy European’s yacht use equate to the carbon footprint of an average European over 585 years.
At current global emission rates, the remaining carbon budget—the CO2 limit needed to keep global warming under 1.5°C—will be exhausted in about four years. However, if everyone emitted at the level of the wealthiest 1 percent, this budget would be depleted in less than five months. If the world’s population matched the emissions from the private jets and superyachts of billionaires in Oxfam’s study, the budget would last only two days.
Although the lifestyle emissions of billionaires dwarf those of average individuals, emissions tied to their investments are far greater still—on average, the investment emissions of 50 of the world’s wealthiest billionaires are approximately 340 times higher than the emissions from their jets and yachts combined. These investments grant billionaires considerable influence over major corporations, propelling us toward environmental catastrophe.
Around 40 percent of billionaire investments analysed by Oxfam are in heavily polluting industries such as oil, mining, shipping, and cement. The total emissions from the investments of 36 of the EU’s richest billionaires match the yearly emissions of over 4.5 million Europeans.
Oxfam’s study examines three major areas where the emissions of the wealthiest 1 percent have had—and are expected to have—grave effects since 1990. The emissions of the richest 1 percent in the EU have caused a global economic output loss of 179 billion USD since 1990. Countries with minimal responsibility for climate breakdown are the most affected, with low- and lower-middle-income nations projected to lose 2.5 percent of cumulative GDP from 1990 to 2050 due to climate impacts, with South Asia, Southeast Asia, and Sub-Saharan Africa experiencing losses of 3 percent, 2.4 percent, and 2.4 percent, respectively, while high-income nations accrue economic benefits.
Crop losses attributed to the climate crisis, caused by emissions from the wealthiest 1 percent in the EU, could have provided sufficient calories to feed 900,000 people annually from 1990 to 2023. This figure is projected to rise to 1.7 million people per year between 2023 and 2050.
Also, emissions from the EU’s richest 1 percent are linked to nearly 80,000 heat-related deaths from 2020 to 2120.
“The super-rich must foot the bill for their carbon footprint, not ordinary Europeans. This means more taxes on the super-rich, like wealth taxes, and higher taxes on superyachts and private jets”, said Putaturo.
The average carbon emissions from the investments, private jets, and yachts of 50 of the world’s wealthiest billionaires in just 90 minutes surpass the lifetime emissions of an average person. Since 1990, emissions from the wealthiest 1% have reduced global economic output by $2.9 trillion and have led to crop losses capable of feeding 14.5 million people annually from 1990 to 2023. This figure is projected to increase to 46 million people per year between 2023 and 2050.
Oxfam’s analysis, based on similar methodology, also found that last year, the superyachts and jets of 31 of the EU’s wealthiest individuals emitted 63.9 tons of carbon in just under a week—the same amount an individual in the world’s poorest 1 percent emits in a lifetime. Data was collected for 31 EU billionaires and centimillionaires for whom information was available.
In total, these 31 EU billionaires and centimillionaires emitted 107,550 tons of carbon through their superyachts and jets over the past year, equivalent to the emissions of 13,393 Europeans, with the EU’s per capita average emission at 8.03 tons. Individually, each of these 31 individuals emitted 3,469 tons per capita, or 432 times more than the average European.
Through their investments alone, 36 of the wealthiest individuals in the EU emitted 36 million tons of carbon last year—comparable to the annual emissions of 4.5 million Europeans.
In 2019, the wealthiest 10 percent in the EU emitted 1.01 billion tons of carbon, surpassing the 0.92 billion tons emitted by the poorest 50 percent. Also, from 1990 to 2020, the EU’s wealthiest 10 percent were responsible for 35.5 billion tons of carbon emissions, exceeding the 33.9 billion tons emitted by the EU’s poorest 50 percent over the same period.
Ahead of COP29, Oxfam urges the EU and its member governments to establish permanent income and wealth taxes on the top 1 percent, impose bans or heavy taxes on carbon-intensive luxury items—starting with private jets and superyachts—and enforce corporate and investor regulations to achieve significant and fair reductions in emissions. Also, with climate finance demands rapidly increasing, especially in Global South countries facing the harshest climate impacts, a wealth tax of up to 5 percent on European multimillionaires and billionaires could generate 286.5 billion euros each year.
Oxfam also says that the current economic model, which prioritises wealth accumulation for the affluent through unchecked extraction and consumption, has long hindered a sustainable, equitable future. Governments should commit to ensuring that, globally and nationally, the incomes of the top 10 percent do not exceed those of the bottom 40 percent.355,832 EU citizens signed a petition asking the European Commission to introduce a European wealth tax to finance the ecological and social transition.
