The jet planes of the world’s 23 “super rich” left in 2023 a carbon footprint equivalent to that which any average citizen would leave in 300 years of life or in 2,000 years in the case of one of the world’s largest people. poorest on the planet. These planes emit an average of 2,074 tonnes of carbon, according to an analysis by the organization Oxfam, which indicates that the richest 1% of the population are responsible for half of the emissions from the global aviation sector. Some European governments want to end private aviation, which has exploded over the past two decades, just as the climate emergency takes its toll.
Oxfam analyzes the 23 planes declared by the 50 “super rich”, which have carried out an average of 184 flights, or 425 flight hours in 2023. “This is equivalent to each of them flying around the world ten times”, gives a example. the organization, which gives as an example the tycoon Elon Musk, who owns two private planes. In his case, it emitted 5,497 tonnes of C02, which an average person will consume in 834 years and this figure increases to 5,437 years for a person belonging to the poorest 50% of the population.
In addition to the air, the climate impact of yachts at sea, the number of which has doubled since 2000, is even more significant. The organization’s analysis was carried out on the 23 “superyachts” of 18 billionaires and concluded that they emitted an average of 5,672 tonnes of carbon.
An environmental “playground”
“The “super rich” of Europe consider our planet their personal playground. Their dirty investments, private jets and yachts, are not only symbols of excess, but fuel inequality, hunger and even death,” says Chiara Putaturo, European tax expert at Oxfam.
Oxfam’s report comes just ahead of the start of the 2024 United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP29), which will be held in Baku, Azerbaijan, where the vast majority of the world’s governments will meet to seek solutions. formulas. mitigating the climate emergency at a time when emissions continue to rise, not fall. UN Secretary-General António Guterres recently warned the planet was on a “tightrope” after greenhouse gases rose by 1.3% last year, reaching levels never before recorded .
But the UN itself warns that without a simple reduction led by the G20 (the most developed and emerging countries), it will reduce global warming. Oxfam also attacks the 1% who own the most and pollute the most and accuses them of being in a sort of vicious circle by enriching themselves through investments in the most polluting sectors. “Nearly 40% of the multi-million dollar investments analyzed in Oxfam’s research are made in highly polluting sectors: oil, mining, shipping and cement. The total emissions from the investments of 36 of the EU’s richest billionaires are equivalent to the annual emissions of more than 4.5 million Europeans,” the organization says.
“If the world continues with its current emissions, the carbon budget (the amount of CO₂ that can still be released into the atmosphere without causing a global temperature increase of more than 1.5°C) will be exhausted in about four years . However, if everyone’s emissions were equal to those of the richest 1%, the carbon budget would be exhausted in less than five months. “And if everyone started emitting as much carbon as the average billionaire’s private jets and superyachts, they would be exhausted in two days,” he warns.
Oxfam demands taxes on the rich, not only as a measure of income but also as a formula for reducing their emissions. “A 60% tax on the income of the world’s richest 1% would reduce emissions equivalent to more than the UK’s total emissions in 2019,” says the report, which also advocates “applying a tax rate additional taxation at higher levels of wealth and income. income (individuals and businesses) from polluting investments to specifically combat carbon pollution.
