The ultrawealthy are responsible for more carbon pollution than more than half of humanity, according to a new report published Monday by Oxfam, a global organization fighting against inequality.
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ultrawealthy → accord → inequality
“We are seeing the ways that the ultra rich in the U.S. and around the world contribute disproportionately to creating the climate crisis,” says Rachel Carle, senior advisor on climate justice at Oxfam America.
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Carle → see → America
“They are also insulated from the impacts of the climate crisis, and are profiting off of the disasters that they have created.”
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they → insulate → that
Billionaires and the ultra-rich are burning more carbon than than most of the world.
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Billionaires → burn → world
The world’s richest 1%—just 8 million people who make, on average, $442,000 a year—
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who → make → 442,000
produce far more emissions than the poorest 3.5 billion, states the report.
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report → produce → billion
Someone in the richest 0.1% emits 48 times more CO2 than the average person in the U.S. over the course of a year.
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Someone → emit → year
Oxfam used climate attribution models and a consumption-based emissions dataset developed by the Stockholm Environment Institute to calculate emissions by income group.
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Oxfam → use → group
Keeping emissions in check is a key part of addressing the climate crisis.
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Keeping → keep → crisis
This month, the United Nations warned that, in order to keep warming below 2°C, urgent action must be taken to drastically reduce global emissions by 18% by 2030.
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action → warn → 2030
Research has long shown that wealthier countries drive a disproportionate share of global emissions.
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countries → show → emissions
But emissions disparities exist within countries as well.
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disparities → exist → countries
The report finds that, in just under four months (118.3 days), someone in the richest 0.1% living in the U.S., those making an average of $1.98 million a year, emits more CO2 than what someone in the poorest half of the country (those making an average of $25,600 a year), has emitted over the last 30 years.
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someone → find → years
The U.S. has the highest concentration of private jet use—with the majority of all private jets (68%) taking off from the U.S.
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majority → have → U.S.
Combined, all of the world’s private jets emit more in 2 seconds than someone in the world’s poorest 50%, those annually making an average of $1,500, would emit in a year.
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someone → combine → year
According to the report, last year private jets spent more than 6.5 million hours in the air.
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jets → accord → air
“We see that the ultrarich consume differently than everyday people,” says Carle, who adds that the ultrarich are also far more likely to invest in polluting companies.
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ultrarich → see → companies
A list of 217 companies that “profit from either creating climate disasters, preparing for them, or recovering from them,” analyzed in the report shows they made $1.8 billion on average in 2025, and paid out more than $1 billion to shareholders.
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they → profit → shareholders
This has a direct impact on the climate, the report finds.
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report → have → climate
The researchers constructed emissions pathway models to attribute the emissions of different income groups, and found that the richest 1% are responsible for 20% of global warming since 1990—20 times more than their share of the world’s population.
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% → construct → population
Someone from the richest 1% contributed 34 times more than the average person to extreme heat events, the report states, and one year's worth of emissions from the richest 1% will cause an estimated 1.9 million excess heat deaths.
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worth → contribute → deaths
Yet, the ultrawealthy are less likely to face the impacts of their emissions.
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ultrawealthy → face → emissions
Those with lower incomes are significantly more likely to suffer from the impacts of climate disasters and extreme weather events—and often lack the funds to recover from disasters.
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Those → suffer → disasters
Wealthy individuals, on the other hand, are more likely to live in safer locations or have the funds to ride out a disaster—purchasing private resources, like firefighters and generators, or paying a premium for emergency shelter.
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individuals → live → shelter
The authors suggest taxing the emissions of the super-rich.
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authors → tax → rich
This could be done through taxes on high-emitting luxury items and activities, like private jet use, to disincentivize their use, suggests the report, or via windfall taxes on profits from fossil fuel companies.
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report → do → companies
The report envisions that these taxes could be used to help level the playing field when it comes to climate adaptation, like increasing climate financing in the Global South, or investing in adaptation measures around the world.
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it → envision → world
“We hope that people take away that there are a lot of opportunities to address inequality in ways that protect the planet and protect communities,” says Carle.
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Carle → hope → communities
“Polluters need to pay for the harm that they’ve caused.”
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they → need → that
The Aporia
