Billionaires Carbon Emission

About Carbon Emission Report

• Carbon Emission is an analysis of the investments of 125 of the world’s richest billionaires by Oxfam International.
• Every human on Earth has a carbon footprint, which can be divided into “personal consumption emissions, emissions through government spending and emissions linked to investments.”
• Types of Carbon Emission analysed in the report
  • Scope 1 emissions: These are a direct result of the company’s operations.
  • Scope 2 emissions: They constitute indirect emissions, for example, energy to operate machines.
  • Scope 3 emissions are other indirect emissions such as those resulting from a company’s supply chains.

Highlights of Carbon Emission by Country

• Emission Inequality: On an average, billionaires are responsible for emitting “3 million tonnes” of carbon a year.
  • billionaires’ investments – with a collective $2.4 trillion stake in 183 companies – give an annual average of 3m tonnes of CO2e per person, which is a million times higher than the average 2.76 tonnes of CO2e for those living in the bottom 90 per cent.
  • Polluting Investment: Billionaires had an average of 14 per cent of their investments in polluting industries such as non-renewable energy and materials like cement.
• Unsustainable Emission of Carbon: 125 billionaires taken as a sample fund about 393 million tonnes of CO2e (carbon dioxide equivalent) per year.
  • Equivalent to annual carbon emissions of France (67 million population).
  • It would take 1.8 million cows to emit the same levels of CO2e as each of the 125 billionaires.
• Billionaires Personal Consumption Emissions:  In 2018, emissions from the private yachts, planes, helicopters and mansions of 20 billionaires generated, on average, about 8,194 tonnes of carbon dioxide (CO₂e).
  • Billionaire space race: A single space flight can emit as much carbon dioxide as a normal person will in their lifetime.
• Dirty Corporation: Billionaires hold significant wealth and stakes in globally recognised corporations, however, corporations are non-adherent to Paris Climatic Deal by failing to cut emissions and avert climate change.
  • The richest 1 per cent (around 63 million people) alone were responsible for 15 per cent of cumulative emissions and that they were emitting 35 times the level of CO₂e compatible with the 1.5°C by 2030 goal of the Paris Agreement.
• Flawed Offset Practices: To make the 2050 climate change plans of ‘net-zero’ total carbon emissions, billionaires are heavily relying on using land in low-income countries to plant trees but the report points out some flaws in that plan.
  • Lack of Geographical Area: In 2021 Oxfam revealed that using land alone to remove the world’s carbon emissions to achieve ‘net zero’ by 2050 would require at least 1.6bn hectares of new forests, an area equivalent to five times the size of India.
• Poor Enforcement by State: No state in the world compels corporates to reduce their carbon footprints.

Significance of Carbon Emission

• Energy Inequality: People from low and middle-income backgrounds do not exercise much control over their energy choices.
• Choices Dilemma: Almost four million people would have to go vegan to offset the emissions of each of the billionaires.
• Determine the intensity of future emissions by guaging the decisions made by the investors — whether to invest in corporations failing to reduce carbon emissions, or to fund fossil fuel and similar industries
• Polluter Pay Principle:  If the billionaires in the sample moved their investments to a fund with stronger environmental and social standards, it could reduce the intensity of their emissions by up to four times.
  • According to the UNEP adaptation costs for developing countries could rise to $300 billion per year by 2030.
  • Corporations must put in place ambitious and time-bound climate change action plans with short-to-medium term targets in line with global climate change objectives in a view to reach carbon neutrality by 2050.
• Role of Government: It is the responsibility of governments to create climate policies that work towards green transition, mainly, through the regulation of corporate investments in highly polluting industries.
  • Better Monitoring: Governments to put in place regulations and policies that compel corporations to track and report on scope 1, scope 2 and scope 3 GHG emissions.
  • Strict Regulation: Set science-based climate targets with a clear road map to reducing emissions.
• Wealth tax on the richest people and an additional steep rate top-up on wealth invested in polluting industries.
• This will reduce the numbers and power of rich people in our society, drastically reduce their emissions.
• It will raise billions that can be used to help countries cope with the brutal impacts of climate breakdown and the loss and damage they incur and fund the global shift to renewable energy.
• Ensure Justice: Governments should include workers’ rights, protection of their livelihoods and that of marginalised communities who are adversely affected by climate change in policy decisions.

Conclusion: There is a need of radical changes in how investors and corporations conduct business, and how policymakers manage both, to meet the globally agreed target of limiting the world’s temperature to below 1.5℃.

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