| Advertisement |
Nov. 7 (UPI) -- The lifestyle of billionaires creates more than a thousand times more greenhouse gas emissions than the average person, according to a new report. Oxfam, a confederation of charities that works to combat global poverty, issued a new report Monday titled "Carbon Billionaires: The investment emissions of the world's richest people."
Advertisement
Researchers used publicly available data in its calculations so billionaires who do not publicly reveal their emissions were excluded from the report, and are likely to be the worst offenders.
The report also found that, when accounting for their investments, the world's richest people are responsible for creating a million times more greenhouse gas emissions than the average person.
"Emissions from billionaire lifestyles -- due to their frequent use of private jets and yachts -- are thousands of times the average person, which is already completely unacceptable," Nafkote Dabi, Climate Change Lead at Oxfam, said in a news release.
"But if we look at emissions from their investments, then their carbon emissions are over a million times higher."
The report found that the investments of just 125 billionaires emit 393 million tons of carbon dioxide each year -- an amount that matches that of all of France.
Unlike the average person, between 50% to 70% of global gas emissions by billionaires comes as a result of their investments, the report said.
The world's top 125 billionaires have a collective $2.4 trillion stake in 183 companies that produce astronomical levels of greenhouse gases.
Investments from billionaires produce an average of 3 million tons of carbon dioxide per billionaire, which is a million times more than the 2.76 tons of greenhouse gases produced by people in the bottom 90% of wealth.
"The actual figure is likely to be higher still, as published carbon emissions by corporates have been shown to systematically underestimate the true level of carbon impact," Oxfam said.
"Further, billionaires and corporates who do not publicly reveal their emissions are likely to be those with a high climate impact."
Researchers found that billionaires on average kept 14% of their investments in polluting industries such as fossil fuels and materials like cement, and only one billionaire had investments in a renewable energy company.
"If the billionaires in the sample moved their investments to a fund with stronger environmental and social standards, it could reduce the intensity of their emissions by up to four times," the report reads.
Oxfam said in the report that governments should "tackle this issue" by increasing regulation and taxation on billionaires.
"Governments must tax rich people more to radically reduce inequality and wealth concentration, to reduce unsustainably high emissions by rich people and to reduce their power and influence over our fossil fuel-fired economy," the report reads.
"This could also raise trillions of dollars for nations hit hardest by climate disaster. The revenue could also help advance a green and fair transition at the global level."
However, Oxfam noted that there are a few examples of billionaires using their wealth to fight climate change, including Mike Cannon-Brookes who bought a significant holding in the Australian energy company AGL to prevent it from splitting up, which would have allowed the company to continue operating coal plants for another two decades.
"There are also examples of billionaires making investments in corporates that seek to make an environmental and social difference," the report reads.
Oxfam said that "most striking" example recently is that of Yvon Chouinard, the billionaire owner of sportswear brand Patagonia.
Chouinard in September said he would turn over control of the company, which is worth roughly $3 billion, to two environmental non-profits for their fight against climate change.
