We all know about the environmental damage caused by industry, households, belching cows, and the release of methane from permafrost. A new report highlights a source of CO2 emissions that few know – billionaires. UK charity Oxfam has reported that the lavish lifestyles of the world’s wealthiest people produce significantly more CO2 than the average person. It analyzed the investments and lifestyles of 125 of the world’s wealthiest billionaires. The result was that the average billionaire is responsible for 3 million tonnes of carbon dioxide annually. That’s a million times more than the average person produces. Taken together, billionaires have as much CO2 as France.

Billionaires’ lifestyles are damaging the environment. Luxury yachts, extravagant villas, and private jets mean that the super-rich leave a huge carbon footprint. This is further increased by the investments they make. At the COP 27 climate conference in Egypt, an Oxfam spokeswoman gave details about CO2 and the super-rich. She said: “The large and growing responsibility of the wealthy for overall emissions is rarely discussed or considered in climate policy. This needs to change.” She added: “These billionaire investors at the top of the corporate pyramid bear a huge responsibility for climate breakdown. They have shirked their responsibility for too long.”

Sources

• https://edition.cnn.com/2022/11/07/world/billionaires-greenhouse-gases-climate-intl
• https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2022/nov/07/super-richs-carbon-investment-emissions-equivalent-to-whole-of-france
• https://www.commondreams.org/news/2022/11/07/single-billionaire-produces-million-times-more-emissions-average-person-oxfam