A cross-posting from my Passed the point of no return blog.
This piece in 'The Guardian' by Damien Gayle demonstrates the tremendous gulf between the super-rich and the average person.
The world’s richest 1% have already used up their fair share of the global carbon budget for 2025, just 10 days into the year.
In less than a week and a half, the consumption habits of an individual from this monied elite had already caused, on average, 2.1 tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions, according to analysis by Oxfam GB. It would take someone from the poorest 50% of humanity three years to create the same amount of pollution.
There are some examples mentioned in the piece. I am reminded of Tim Winton's 'Juice' whenever I read about these people...
Chiara Liguori, Oxfam GB’s senior climate justice policy adviser, said: “The future of our planet is hanging by a thread, yet the super-rich are being allowed to continue to squander humanity’s chances with their lavish lifestyles and polluting investments.“Governments need to stop pandering to the richest polluters and instead make them pay their fair share for the havoc they’re wreaking on our planet. Leaders who fail to act are culpable in a crisis that threatens the lives of billions.”
The very richest live lives that are truly profligate in their use of the world’s remaining carbon budget.
Previous research on climate inequality by Oxfam found that the two private jets owned by Jeff Bezos, the Amazon founder, spent nearly 25 days in the air over a 12-month period, releasing as much carbon as an Amazon employee in the US would in 207 years.
The three yachts of the Walton family, heirs of the Walmart retail chain, had a combined carbon footprint in one year of 18,000 tonnes – an amount similar to that of 1,714 Walmart shelf-stackers.
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