Richest 1% globally emit as much planet-heating pollution as two-thirds of humanity put together

Carbon Equality report a planet for the 99%. Richest 1% emit as much planet-heating pollution as two-thirds of humanity

Richest households in Scotland also emit four times more than poorest

The richest 1 percent of the world’s population produced as much carbon pollution in 2019 as the five billion people who made up the poorest two-thirds of humanity combined; a new Oxfam report reveals today.

“Climate Equality: A Planet for the 99%” comes ahead of COP28, the upcoming UN climate summit in Dubai, amid growing fears that the 1.5°C target for curtailing rising temperatures appears increasingly unachievable.

Oxfam says the scale of carbon inequality reinforces the need to make the biggest and richest polluters pay for their damage, globally, across the UK, and in Scotland, with separate data showing the richest households in Scotland are also responsible for significantly disproportionate emissions.

Oxfam Scotland is urging the First Minister to place climate and social justice at the heart of the Scottish Government’s Budget in December to fairly raise the additional revenues needed to ensure the delayed Climate Change Plan delivers the robust and accelerated just transition that’s needed, while investing in poverty-reducing public services.

The organisation is also calling on the Prime Minister to use UK-level powers to tackle the twin crises of inequality and climate change by targeting the excessive emissions of the super-rich to boost investment in the delivery of the UK’s climate goals and vital public services.

Oxfam’s new global report is based on research with the Stockholm Environment Institute (SEI) and assesses the consumption emissions of different income groups in 2019, the most recent year for which data is available. It shows the stark gap between the carbon footprints of the super-rich – whose carbon-hungry lifestyles and investments in polluting industries like fossil fuels are driving global heating – and the rest of us.

The report reveals:

  • The richest 1 percent (77 million people) were responsible for 16 percent of global consumption emissions in 2019 — more than all car and road transport emissions. The richest 10 percent accounted for half (50 percent) of emissions.
  • It would take about 1,500 years for someone in the bottom 99 percent to produce as much carbon as the richest billionaires do in a year.
  • Every year, the emissions of the richest 1 percent cancel out the carbon savings coming from nearly one million wind turbines.
  • The outsized emissions of the richest 1 percent in 2019 alone will cause 1.3 million heat-related excess deaths, roughly equivalent to the populations of both Edinburgh and Glasgow combined, with most of these deaths occurring between 2020 and 2030.

Separate analysis, published by Future Economy Scotland, has uncovered a similar, albeit less severe, trend of carbon inequality in Scotland, with the average carbon footprint of the richest 5% of households in Scotland 4.1 times greater than the poorest 5% of households. The analysis emphasises the disproportionate climate impact richer people have through their lifestyle choices, through things like frequent flying.

Oxfam Scotland says for the transition to net zero in the UK and Scotland to be fast and fair, it must be funded by taxing the biggest and richest polluters, while incentivising them to change their behaviour.

Recent Oxfam research has shown that the UK Government could have raised up to £23 billion last year alone if it had implemented a series of common-sense taxes on the UK’s biggest polluters – fossil fuel companies and the extremely rich – with the potential for some of this money to flow to Scotland to accelerate climate action.

However, Oxfam Scotland says the Scottish Government should not wait for UK-wide action. It says the First Minister should instead realise his commitment to show leadership on climate action and turn his Government’s welcome support for the principle of making polluters pay into concrete action. The organisation is calling for him to use progressive general taxation to raise the money needed to accelerate climate action, alongside targeted fiscal measures to incentivise polluters to reduce their emissions.

Jamie Livingstone, Head of Oxfam Scotland, said: “Climate culpability is crystal clear: around the world and here in Scotland, the climate crisis is being driven disproportionately by the excessive lifestyles of the richest people. Meanwhile, globally, people living in poverty, who have barely contributed to the climate emergency, are losing their lives, livelihoods, and homes.

“If the First Minister is to build and maintain critical public support for the depth and speed of transition that’s needed, climate action must be patently fair: that means he must do everything in his power to compel the richest to clean up their acts while paying the bill for the damage they’re causing.”

Recent analysis by Future Economy Scotland shows wide variations in the consumption emissions generated by Scotland’s highest and lowest income households across different types of consumption, with a particularly enormous gulf in the transport sector.

Their data shows that with regards to private transport (which includes private cars and motorcycles), the carbon footprint of the richest 5% of households was 10 times higher than the poorest 5% of households in the period 2017–2019. For aviation, the gap was even wider, with the carbon footprint of the richest 5% of households 11 times higher.

While the emissions generated in and from Scotland are falling, they are not doing so fast enough with the Scottish Government having missed eight of the last 12 legally binding targets to reduce Scotland’s territorial emissions. There are not yet targets to cut Scotland’s consumption emissions.

Laurie Macfarlane, Co-director of Future Economy Scotland, said: “The pattern is clear: both in Scotland and across the world, climate change and inequality are inherently linked, with a strong correlation between household incomes and carbon footprints.

“This clear carbon inequality should be reflected in both the Scottish Government’s plans and policies as it seeks to get back on track in meeting its target of delivering a just transition to net zero by 2045. The First Minister must make a bold, concerted effort to ensure the costs of decarbonisation are shared in a way that’s fair and just, by showing he has both the political will and courage to make polluters pay.”

/ENDS

For more information and interviews, please contact: Rebecca Lozza, Oxfam Media and Communications Adviser, Scotland and Wales: rlozza1@oxfam.org.uk / 07917738450  

Notes to Editor