The investments of 125 billionaires cause 393 million tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions each year according to a report published by the global poverty charity Oxfam.
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Investments of 125 billionaires emit 393 million tons of carbon dioxide each year, according to a report by Oxfam.
That’s the same CO2 output as the whole of France and makes the average annual emissions of a billionaire a million times higher than that of someone in the poorest 90% of the world’s population, poor charity Global hunger said.
The billionaires included in the study had a collective stake of $2.4 trillion in 183 companies, each emitting an average of 3 million tons of carbon dioxide per year. Those outside the world’s wealthiest 10% emit an average of 2.76 tons of carbon dioxide annually.
The Oxfam report analyzed how the world’s 125 richest people invest their money and looked at the carbon footprint of those investments.
Research shows that about 14% of billionaires’ investments are in “polluting industries,” such as non-renewable energy and materials like cement, while the average investor has a half of the money invested in those areas.
Danny Sriskandarajah, chief executive officer of Oxfam GB, called on world leaders at COP27 climate summit to “expose and change the role big corporations and their wealthy investors play in profiting from pollution that is driving the climate crisis.”
“The The role of the super-rich in climate change is supercharged rarely discussed,” Sriskandarajah said in the report’s press release,
