Oxfam: World's richest 0.1% produce more carbon than poorest 3.5 billion

The world’s richest 0.1%, around 8 million people, produce more carbon pollution than the poorest 3.5 billion combined, according to a new analysis by Oxfam, a global confederation of independent non-governmental organizations. 

The charity, that works across more than 70 countries to fight poverty, inequality, and injustice, published the findings ahead of the UN climate summit, COP31, in Türkiye. 

Its argument is that the people who contribute least to climate breakdown suffer most from it, while the wealthiest are shielded from the consequences and, increasingly, profit from them. 

Oxfam says a person in the richest 0.1% has contributed nearly 400 times more to today's extreme heatwaves than someone in the poorest half of humanity. It says this group collectively produces more than three times the carbon pollution of the whole population of Sub-Saharan Africa, which is 1.3 billion people.

'A crime of extreme inequality'

Combining carbon inequality data with climate attribution models, Oxfam also reports that the richest 1% are responsible for 20% of global warming since 1990, which is 100 times more per person than someone in the poorest half.

It says one year of emissions by the richest 1% will cause 1.9 million excess heat-related deaths. Of these, Oxfam says 78% will occur in low- and lower-middle-income countries, which are responsible for 8% of global emissions.

The charity adds that the emissions of the richest 1% will cause nearly $53 trillion in damage by 2050.

On private aviation, Oxfam says that combined, private jets emit more carbon pollution in two seconds than someone in the poorest half of humanity does in a year.

"The climate crisis is often described as a shared human challenge. It is not," said Oxfam International Executive Director Amitabh Behar.

"Those who have done the least to cause it are losing their homes, their harvests and, increasingly, their lives," he added. 

"Meanwhile, the super-rich can buy their way out of danger – by retreating to high-tech underground survival bunkers, hiring private firefighting crews, and securing private insurance – and are actively profiting from the consequences of their pollution. 

"This is not a tragedy of shared fate; it is a crime of extreme inequality."

Profiting from the damage

The report also introduces a 'Destroy & Rebuild Index' of 217 corporations that profit from industries fueling climate breakdown as well as from disaster preparedness, recovery and reconstruction. Oxfam says global asset management company BlackRock and US investment firm Vanguard are invested in 92% of them, with combined investments of more than $1 trillion. 

Oxfam says the global disaster recovery market is projected to grow from $70 billion to $92 billion a year by 2029. 

It estimates that by 2050 as many as 1 billion people, around 10% of the world’s population, could be displaced by the climate crisis, mostly in the Global Majority countries.

It is urging governments at COP31 to introduce permanent wealth and income taxes, a permanent tax on fossil fuel corporations and punitive taxes on luxury items such as private jets. 

It also wants more grant-based climate finance for the Global Majority, with adaptation funding tripled by 2035.

Extreme carbon inequality

Oxfam describes private aviation as one of the clearest examples of extreme carbon inequality. Its analysis of private jet tracking data found that private jets emit more carbon pollution in two seconds in total than someone in the poorest half of humanity emits in a year.

However, private jets are a small part of the picture overall. 

The International Council on Clean Transportation (ICCT) estimates they produced about 2% to 4% of aviation’s greenhouse gas emissions between 2013 and 2023. The European Business Aviation Association puts business aviation's share of global CO2 at 0.04% and says it is aiming for net zero by 2050.

The campaign group Transport & Environment found private jets are 5 to 14 times more polluting per passenger than commercial flights. 

The ICCT says private jet emissions rose about 25% between 2013 and 2023.

The wealth tax debate

Oxfam's central policy call is for permanent taxes on wealth and income. The record of wealth taxes in Europe is disputed.

According to the OECD, as reported by Euronews, several European countries have repealed them in recent decades, with the main arguments focusing on efficiency costs and the risk of capital flight. 

The Hoover Institution, a US think tank, says nine of the 12 OECD countries that levied wealth taxes in 1990 had repealed them by 2025. Tax Foundation Europe says France's wealth tax raised less than 0.2% of GDP before it was repealed in 2017. Both organizations favor free markets.

Switzerland, which still has one, raised €9.5 billion from individual wealth taxes in 2023, which is 4.3% of its overall tax revenue, according to the OECD.

On the climate effect, a 2025 working paper by researchers at the University of Greenwich simulated wealth taxes in 22 European countries. It found a progressive annual tax could cut CO2 emissions by 7.5% to 14.7% after 10 years by reducing wealth inequality, and by 1.5% to 3.6% through reduced consumption by the wealthiest. 

Oxfam wants governments at COP31 to make the rich pay for their pollution, through permanent taxes on wealth and income, a permanent tax on fossil fuel companies and heavy taxes on luxuries such as private jets.

It also wants far more climate funding for the Global Majority, given as grants rather than loans that add to poorer countries' debt, with money for adapting to climate change tripled by 2035. 

It says governments should also cut inequality and stop companies profiting from disasters.

Some of these ideas, wealth taxes in particular, are disputed by economists, and it remains to be seen whether governments will act on them.