Please refer to the attached files. Ultra-rich 0. 1% produce more carbon pollution than nearly half of humanity while cashing in on the climate disasters they create The richest 1 percent are responsible for 20 percent of global warming since 1990 – 100 times more, per person, than someone in the poorest half of humanity. Just one year of emissions by the richest 1 percent will cause 1. 9 million excess heat-related deaths. 78 percent of these deaths will occur in low- and lower-middle-income countries, despite these countries being responsible for 8 percent of global emissions. The emissions of the richest 1 percent will cause nearly $53 trillion in damage by 2050. Used exclusively by the super-rich, private aviation remains one of the clearest examples of extreme carbon inequality. New analysis by Oxfam of private jet tracking data finds that: Combined, private jets emit more carbon pollution in two seconds than someone in the poorest half of humanity emits in a year. While the super-rich are responsible for a disproportionate share of carbon pollution, it is ordinary people who bear the brunt of the resulting floods, fires and famine. The super-rich buy safety through private insurance and homes in safer, cooler places. For everyone else, climate disasters mean destroyed homes and crops, depleted savings, and lost livelihoods. This leaves people even more exposed when the next disaster hits, deepening the inequality that made them far more vulnerable to climate disasters in the first place. By 2050, as many as 1 billion people (around 10 percent of the world’s population) could be displaced by the climate crisis. Most of those displaced will be in the Global South. Oxfam’s report also shows how climate disasters have become an increasingly lucrative business. The global disaster recovery market is projected to grow from $70 billion to $92 billion annually by 2029. Oxfam’s new Destroy & Rebuild Index identifies 217 corporations profiting from industries that fuel climate breakdown as well as disaster preparedness, recovery and reconstruction. BlackRock and Vanguard are invested in 92 percent of the corporations in the index. Their combined investments total more than $1 trillion. The report also warns that climate disasters are increasingly exploited to push policies that deepen inequality, including the privatization of climate action and public services, land grabs, deregulation and tax breaks benefiting the super-rich. The result is a vicious cycle of injustice: deaths from flooding are seven times higher in more unequal countries. “The ultra-rich are setting the planet on fire and then charging the rest of us for the extinguishers,” said Behar. “They profit from the pollution. They profit from the disaster. And they profit again from the clean-up. ” Oxfam is calling on governments meeting at COP31 to: Make rich polluters pay to significantly and rapidly curb their carbon emissions, including through permanent wealth and income taxes, a permanent tax on fossil fuel corporations, and punitive taxes on high-emitting luxury items like private jets. Substantially increase climate finance for the Global South, prioritizing public, grant-based finance rather than loans that deepen debt. The amount for adaptation should be tripled by 2035. Radically reduce inequality within and between countries, including through climate-resilient public infrastructure and public services. End profiteering from climate disasters. Governments need to curb corporate power in emergency response, reconstruction, and food systems during disasters. Report Authors: Max Lawson, Astrid Nilsson Lewis, Alex Maitland, Joel Chester Pagulayan, Pubudini Wickramaratne, and Mateo Adarve Zuluaga Notes to editors Contact information Annie Thériault in Peru | annie. theriault@oxfam. org | +51 936 307 990
World: Disaster Divide: How Climate Chaos Deepens Inequality and Enriches the Few [EN/AR/PT]
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