The most comprehensive study of global climate inequality ever undertaken shows that this elite group, made up of 77 million people – including billionaires, millionaires and those earning more than $140.000 a year – was responsible for 16% of all CO2 emissions in the world in 2019 – enough to cause more of one million deaths due to excess heat.
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"The 1 per cent – comprising 77 million individuals globally – were responsible for a staggering 16 per cent of global emissions in 2019, according to a report from Oxfam on Monday." https://t.co/VH30wuzd1x
— Oxfam News Team (@oxfamgbpress) November 20, 2023
The Oxfam report shows that although the richest 1% tend to live climatically isolated and air-conditioned lives, their emissions – 5,9 billion tons of CO2 in 2019 – are responsible for immense suffering.
Using a formula of “mortality cost” – used by the US Environmental Protection Agency, among others – of 226 excess deaths worldwide for every million tons of carbon, the report calculates that 1% emissions alone would be enough to cause 1,3 million heat-related deaths over the next few decades.
A planet for the 99%
Yet, according to Oxfam research, suffering falls disproportionately on people living in poverty, marginalized ethnic communities, migrants and women, who live and work outside or in homes vulnerable to extreme weather.
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These groups are less likely to have savings, insurance or social protection, which leaves them more at risk economically, as well as physically, from floods, droughts, heatwaves and wildfires. A UN states that More than 91% of deaths due to extreme weather conditions occurred in developing countries.
The report concludes that it would take around 1.500 years for someone in the poorest 99% to produce as much carbon as the richest billionaires produce in a year.
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