Richest 1% burn through their entire annual carbon limit in just 10 days

The richest 1 percent have burned through their share of the annual global carbon budget —the amount of CO2 that can be added to the atmosphere without pushing the world beyond 1.5°C of warming— within the first 10 days of 2025, reveals new Oxfam analysis. 

In stark contrast, it would take someone from the poorest half of the global population nearly three years (1022 days) to use up their share of the annual global carbon budget. 

This alarming milestone, dubbed “Pollutocrat Day” by Oxfam, underscores how climate breakdown is disproportionately driven by the super-rich, whose emissions far exceed those of ordinary people. The richest 1 percent are responsible for more than twice as much carbon pollution than the poorest half of humanity, with devastating consequences for vulnerable communities and efforts to tackle the climate emergency. To meet the 1.5°C goal, the richest 1 percent need to cut their emissions by 97 percent by 2030.

“The future of our planet is hanging by a thread. The margin for action is razor-thin, yet the super-rich continue to squander humanity’s chances with their lavish lifestyles, polluting stock portfolios and pernicious political influence. This is theft —pure and simple― a tiny few robbing billions of people of their future to feed their insatiable greed,” said Oxfam International’s Climate Change Policy Lead, Nafkote Dabi.

Oxfam’s research shows that the emissions of the richest 1 percent since 1990 have caused ―and will continue to cause― trillions of dollars in economic damage, extensive crop losses, and millions of excess deaths.

• The economic damage suffered by low- and lower-middle-income countries over the past 30 years is about three times greater than the total climate finance provided by rich countries to poorer ones.
• By 2050, the emissions of the richest 1 percent will cause crop losses that could have provided enough calories to feed at least 10 million people a year in Eastern and Southern Asia.
• Roughly eight in every 10 excess deaths due to heat will occur in low- and lower-middle-income countries. Around 40 percent of these deaths will occur in Southern Asia.

“Governments need to stop pandering to the richest. Rich polluters must be made to pay for the havoc they’re wreaking on our planet. Tax them, curb their emissions, and ban their excessive indulgences —private jets, superyachts, and the like. Leaders who fail to act are effectively choosing complicity in a crisis that threatens the lives of billions,” said Dabi.

Oxfam calls on governments to:

• Reduce the emissions of the richest. Governments must introduce permanent income and wealth taxes on the top 1 percent, ban or punitively tax carbon-intensive luxury consumptions —starting with private jets and superyachts— and regulate corporations and investors to drastically and fairly reduce their emissions.
• Make rich polluters pay. Climate finance needs are growing rapidly, especially in Global South countries bearing the brunt of climate impacts. While rich countries agreed to mobilize $300 billion a year to help Global South countries cope with warming temperatures and switch to renewable energy, this amount falls drastically short from the $5 trillion climate the Global North owes in climate debt and reparations. 

ENDS