Staggering revelation in study on carbon footprint of the world's richest
This is not the first report that has red-flagged the carbon footprint of the world's richest.
In yet another reminder to the world's richest about their carbon footprint, a new report has highlighted the outsized influence of the wealthiest people on the economy and the unsustainable amounts of carbon emitted by them. About 50 per cent to 70 per cent of the emissions by the richest people worldwide "are the result of their investments," the study underlines, further pointing out: "They hold extensive stakes in many of the largest and most powerful corporations in the world – large enough stakes to influence the actions taken by these corporations."
This is the latest report by global non-profit Oxfam, titled “Carbon billionaires”. Here are top five highlights:
1) As part of the study, investments of 125 of the world’s richest billionaires were analysed. On an average, it was revealed, they are emitting 3 million tonnes a year, more than a million times the average for someone in the bottom 90 per cent of humanity.
2) “Billionaire investments in polluting industries such as fossil fuels and cement are double the average for the Standard & Poor 500 group of companies,” Oxfam noted. They have, on an average, about 14 per cent of investments in polluting industries.
3) As compared to an average person, billionaires' emissions because of their lifestyles - such as owning private jets and yachts - are thousands of times higher.
4) If the world’s richest made a conscious decision to move their investments to higher environmental and social standards, the intensity of emissions could be reduced by up to four times.
5) Citing a 2021 study, the report underlined that that the richest 1 per cent (around 63 million people) alone were responsible for 15 per cent of cumulative emissions. "Another study drew on public records to estimate that in 2018 emissions from the private yachts, planes, helicopters and mansions of 20 billionaires generated on average about 8,194 tonnes of carbon dioxide," it highlights.
This is not the first time that Oxfam has raised the issue. In 2020, a report by the non-profit - ‘Confronting Carbon Inequality' - pointed out that between 1990 and 2015 (25 years when humanity doubled the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere) the richest 10 percent accounted for over half (52 percent) of the emissions.
