Oxfam: Superyachts and jets of 31 rich EU citizens produce the same emissions as 13,393 EU citizens

Brussels – A European billionaire, using private jets and superyachts, produces in one week an amount of emissions equal to those originated in an entire lifetime by a person in the poorest 1 percent of the planet’s population: 63.9 tons of carbon. That’s what emerges from Oxfam‘s ‘Carbon Inequality Kills‘ study. The organization collected data on jets and superyachts for 31 billionaires and one hundred millionaires in the EU that showed that “in the past year, all superyachts and jets of these 31 rich people in the EU emitted a total of 107,550 tons of carbon,” which is equivalent to the emissions of 13,393 Europeans (EU per capita average of 8.03 tons). Specifically, “an ultra-rich European takes an average of 140 flights per year, spending 267 hours in the air and producing as much carbon as the average European in over 112 years.” Over the same period, “an ultra-rich European on his or her yachts emits, on average, as much carbon as an average European in 585 years.”

According to Oxfam, if the world continues to produce current emissions, the carbon budget (the amount of C)2 that can be added to the atmosphere without global temperatures rising by over 1.5°C) will be exhausted in about four years. However, if everyone’s emissions matched those of the richest 1 percent, the carbon budget would be exhausted in less than five months. And if everyone started emitting as much carbon as the private jets and superyachts of the average billionaire in Oxfam’s study, the budget would be exhausted in two days.

The study also investigates emissions from the investments of billionaires, which, in nearly 40 percent of the cases analyzed by Oxfam, rely on highly polluting sectors: oil, mining, shipping, and cement. “In the past year, 36 EU super-rich emitted 36 million tons of carbon through their investments. This is equivalent to the annual emissions of 4.5 million Europeans,” it reads.

Finally, “the richest 10 percent of the EU emitted 1.01 billion tons of carbon in 2019, more than the 0.92 billion tons of carbon emitted by the poorest 50 percent of the EU” and “between 1990 and 2020, was responsible for 35.5 billion tons of carbon emissions, more than the 33.9 billion tons of carbon emitted by the poorest 50 percent of the EU.”

In this context, Oxfam’s analysis highlights three areas that suffer “devastating consequences” from such behavior. The first is global inequality: “Emissions from the richest 1 percent in the EU have caused a decrease in global economic output of 179 billion US dollars since 1990,” and “the greatest impact will be in the countries least responsible for climate collapse” since, “globally, low- and middle-income countries will lose about 2.5 percent of their cumulative GDP between 1990 and 2050 to the climate crisis.” South Asia, Southeast Asia, and sub-Saharan Africa will lose 3 percent, 2.4 percent, and 2.4 percent, respectively, while high-income countries will make economic gains instead. The second is hunger because “emissions from the richest 1 percent in the EU have caused crop losses due to the climate crisis” that could have “fed about 900,000 people a year between 1990 and 2023” and “this figure will rise to 1.7 million people per year between 2023 and 2050.” The third is deaths: “Emissions from the EU’s richest 1 percent will cause excessive heat-related deaths of about 80 thousand people between 2020 and 2120.”

Oxfam makes three requests to the EU and European governments ahead of COP29. The first is to reduce the emissions of the wealthiest. “Governments should introduce permanent income and wealth taxes of the top 1 percent, ban or punitively tax carbon-intensive luxury consumption — starting with private jets and superyachts — and regulate companies and investors to drastically and fairly reduce their emissions.” Second, to make wealthy polluters pay. “The need for climate finance is huge and growing, especially in countries of the global South that bear the brunt of the climate impacts. A wealth tax of up to 5 percent on European multimillionaires and billionaires could raise 286.5 billion euros a year.” Third, to reimagine economies. “The current economic system, designed to accumulate wealth for the already wealthy through constant extraction and consumption, has long undermined a truly sustainable and equitable future for all. Governments must commit to ensuring that, globally and domestically, the incomes of the top 10 percent are no higher than those of the bottom 40 percent.”

According to Chiara Putaturo, a tax expert at Oxfam EU, “the super-rich in Europe are treating our planet as their personal playground. Their dirty investments, jets, and private yachts are not just symbols of excess; they are driving inequality, hunger, and even death.” For this reason, “the super-rich must foot the bill for their carbon footprint, not ordinary Europeans. This means more taxes on the super-rich, such as wealth taxes, and higher taxes on superyachts and private jets,” he pointed out.