Much of the climate conversation has been put on the individual over the past few decades, yet driving much of the damage is the richest individuals and companies across the whole, who have already met their carbon limit for 2026 in just a single week.
While recycling wherever possible and opting for greener habits is certainly something that you should be doing already and are advised to continue to do, there's only so much that individuals across the world can do when the vast majority of the damage is being done by a small group.
It has been well reported that a significant chunk of global emissions comes from just a handful of people, yet despite this awareness their habits have only grown worse, and news of recent carbon limit breaches confirms that.
As reported by Futurism, the Oxfam Foundation has revealed that the world's richest individuals – those in the global one percent of wealth – have exceeded their fair share of annual carbon emissions by the tenth day of 2026.
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Most people haven't even settled into the year yet and are still writing 2025, yet these extremely wealthy individuals have done far more damage than any one 'normal' person could possibly achieve.
It's even worse when you consider the richest 0.1 percent (which is still around 8.3 million people) spent their 'carbon budget' just three days into the new year, and they produce more emissions in a single day than the poorest 50 percent of the world do collectively across an entire year.
Within the parameters of the 'fair share' is the measure of carbon that humans could collectively produce to keep Earth within 1.5 degrees Celsius of pre-industrial temperatures, so extrapolating that over an entire year can create some serious issues.
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For example, it's estimated that by the end of the 21st century, over 1.3 million heat-related deaths will be caused directly by the carbon emissions produced by the richest one percent, and that number will likely only increase with the increasingly power-hungry demands of something like AI.
While their lifestyles are far from climate friendly, the climate impact of these wealthy individuals is strongest in their investment and business ventures, with research concluding that "each billionaire carries, on average, an investment portfolio in companies that will produce 1.9 million tonnes of CO2 a year, further locking the world into a climate breakdown."
The study further revealed that "to stay within the 1.5 degrees limit, the richest 1 percent would have to slash their emissions by 97 percent by 2030," yet it seems like the chances of that happening are close to zero.
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"Meanwhile, those who have done the least to cause the climate crisis – including communities in poorer and climate-vulnerable countries, indigenous groups, women and girls – will be the worst impacted," the study continues.