Oxfam climate report calls for tax on the super-rich

Curbing the extravagances of an elite few can create a sustainable planet for all, the report says.

Oxfam has called for a ban, or punitive tax, on luxury consumptions — at 90% tax or above — such as private jets, superyachts, SUVs, and frequent air travel.

The research found that three decades of the consumption emissions of the world’s richest 1% have already caused crop losses that could have provided enough calories to feed 14.5m people a year.

Looking ahead up to 2050, the crop losses from these lifestyles would feed 148.8m people a year, it said.   

“The only way to beat climate breakdown and deliver social justice is to radically reduce inequality,” said the report.

As global temperatures continue to rise, risking the lives and livelihoods of people living in poverty and precarity, we must act now to curb the emissions of the super-rich and make rich polluters pay. 

The report highlighted how an Irish billionaire emitted in one day what an average Irish person emits in an entire year.

It found only 1% of people are responsible for half of all airplane carbon emissions, adding that sales of high-polluting private jets have doubled in the last two decades.

Oxfam found private jets belonging to 23 of the 50 richest billionaires emitted an average of 2,074 tonnes of carbon a year.

This is equivalent to 300 years’ worth of emissions for the average person in the world, or 2,000 years for a person living in the poorest 50% of the planet.

SpaceX founder Elon Musk owns two private jets which together produce 5,497 tonnes of CO2 per year.

Oxfam said this is the equivalent of 834 years’ worth of emissions for the average person in the world.

Superyachts, meanwhile, pollute up to three times the emissions of private jets.

The number of these yachts has more than doubled since 2000, with around 150 new launches every year.

Oxfam’s analysis found that investment emissions are the most significant part of a billionaire’s carbon footprint.

The richest 1% control 43% of global financial assets, and billionaires control 34% of the 50 largest listed companies in the world and seven out of the 10 biggest.

A tax of 60% on the incomes of the richest 1% of earners globally would cut emissions by more than Britain’s total emissions in 2019, Oxfam found.

The chief executive of Oxfam Ireland, Jim Clarken, said the research makes it “painfully clear” that extreme emissions are fuelling inequality and hunger, adding that the Government needs to play its role.

“The actions of these super-rich are undoubtedly threatening lives,” he said.

The report finds that just a few billionaires can emit more carbon in a few hours than most people in Ireland will in their lifetime.

“We must face the fact that the overarching problem remains the entire system that allows this disparity to flourish. Ireland cannot turn a blind eye to the role our wealthiest citizens are playing in the climate crisis.”

Ahead of Cop29, Oxfam called on the next Government to introduce a wealth tax on those with net wealth of over €4.6m, ban or punitively tax carbon-intensive luxury consumptions, and regulate corporations and investors to drastically and fairly reduce emissions.

A wealth tax on the world’s millionaires and billionaires could raise at least €1.5tn annually, Oxfam said.

A wealth tax on investments in polluting activities could bring in another €92bn, it added.