CARBON EMISSIONS - ENVIRONMENT

News: What an Oxfam report says about carbon emissions of the world’s richest people


What's in the news?

       An Oxfam report titled, Carbon Billionaires: The investment emissions of the world’s richest people, has said the world’s richest people emit “unsustainable amounts of carbon,” as compared with an ordinary person.

       This report is based on the fact that every human on Earth has a carbon footprint, which can be divided into “personal consumption emissions, emissions through government spending and emissions linked to investments.”

Key takeaways:

       An analysis of the investments of 125 of the world’s richest billionaires was conducted by Oxfam International, and the report was published this November.

       It demonstrated that on average, billionaires are responsible for emitting “3 Million Tonnes” of carbon a year, which is, “more than a million times the average for someone in the bottom 90% of humanity.”

       It further found out that the 125 billionaires taken as a sample fund about 393 million tonnes of CO2e (carbon dioxide equivalent) per year. This is equivalent to the “annual carbon emissions of France,” which is a nation of 67 million people.

       Apart from investments by billionaires, their personal consumption also adds up. For example, in 2018, emissions from the private yachts, planes, helicopters and mansions of 20 billionaires generated, on average, about 8,194 tonnes of carbon dioxide (CO₂e). As evident in the billionaire space race, a single space flight can emit as much carbon dioxide as a normal person will in their lifetime, the report highlighted.

       In 2021, research conducted by Oxfam and the Stockholm Environment Institute revealed: “The richest 1 percent (around 63 million people) alone were responsible for 15 percent of cumulative emissions and that they were emitting 35 times the level of CO₂e compatible with the 1.5°C by 2030 goal of the Paris Agreement. 

What can be done to curb their carbon footprint?

Issues in forest creation:

       Corporations are failing to cut emissions and avert climate change, as per the report. To make the 2050 climate change plans of ‘net-zero’ total carbon emissions, they are heavily relying on using land in low-income countries to plant trees but the report points out some flaws in that plan.

       In 2021 Oxfam revealed that using land alone to remove the world’s carbon emissions to achieve ‘net zero’ by 2050 would require at least 1.6bn hectares of new forests, an area equivalent to five times the size of India. 

Need to include corporates under the terms:

       “At present,” the report states, “no state in the world compels corporations to reduce their carbon footprints.”

       It is the responsibility of governments to create climate policies that work towards green transition, mainly, through the regulation of corporate investments in highly polluting industries.

       They should aim to set strong and binding science-based GHG reduction targets and demand greater transparency.

       Governments should also include workers rights, protection of their livelihoods and that of marginalized communities who are adversely affected by climate change in policy decisions.

Climate finance through wealth tax:

       Most importantly, the report suggests that a wealth tax on the richest could aid the urgent climate finance needs of developing countries and “raise hundreds of billions of dollars to help and protect those already suffering the impacts of catastrophic climate change.”