2025 has only just started and the world's richest people are burning through their annual carbon budget at lightning speeds.
According to an Oxfam analysis, the world's richest 1% have used up their share of the annual global carbon budget in the first 10 days of 2025. This budget is the amount of CO2 that can be added to the atmosphere without exceeding 1.5°C of global warming.
The poverty-fighting charity labelled this sobering milestone as ‘Pollutocrat Day’ and it underpins the enormous climate footprint of the super-rich.
It displays the disproportionate climate breakdown between the rich and ordinary people.
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To put this into perspective, Oxfam describes that it would take someone from the poorest half of the global population nearly three years (1022 days) to use up the same share of the annual carbon budget.
The richest 1% are responsible for more than twice the carbon pollution of the poorest half of humanity. Yet, it’s people living in poverty - who’ve contributed the least to climate change - who are facing the harshest consequences of climate change.
To stay within the critical 1.5°C warming limit, Oxfam states the wealthiest 1% would need to slash their emissions by 97% by 2030.
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“The future of our planet is hanging by a thread, yet the super-rich are being allowed to continue to squander humanity’s chances with their lavish lifestyles and polluting investments," said Chiara Liguori, Oxfam GB's Senior Climate Justice Policy Advisor.
“Governments need to stop pandering to the richest polluters and instead make them pay their fair share for the havoc they’re wreaking on our planet.
"Leaders who fail to act are culpable in a crisis that threatens the lives of billions.”
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The leading UK charity is calling on the Chancellor to increase taxes on climate-damaging luxuries like private jets and superyachts.
As a result, the much-needed funds can tackle the climate crisis in a way that targets those most responsible, who can afford to pay and stop letting them off the hook.
“As global temperatures continue to climb, the UK must show how it will generate its own share of new, fair funding to meet the escalating climate finance needs and fight inequality – significantly higher taxes on polluting luxuries like private jets and superyachts is an obvious place for the government to start,” Liguoria added.
Oxfam calculated that fair taxes on private jets and superyachts in the UK alone could have raised £2 billion in 2023 to fund climate action.