Richest 1% burn through their entire annual carbon limit in just 10 days of 2025, Oxfam Says
The richest 1 percent have burned through their share of the annual global carbon budget —the amount of CO2 that can be added to the atmosphere without pushing the world beyond 1.5°C of warming— within the first 10 days of 2025, reveals new Oxfam analysis.
In stark contrast, it would take someone from the poorest half of the global population nearly three years (1022 days) to use up their share of the annual global carbon budget.
This alarming milestone, dubbed “Pollutocrat Day” by Oxfam, underscores how climate breakdown is disproportionately driven by the super-rich, whose emissions far exceed those of ordinary people. The richest 1 percent are responsible for more than twice as much carbon pollution than the poorest half of humanity, with devastating consequences for vulnerable communities and efforts to tackle the climate emergency. To meet the 1.5°C goal, the richest 1 percent need to cut their emissions by 97 percent by 2030.
“The future of our planet is hanging by a thread. The margin for action is razor-thin, yet the super-rich continue to squander humanity’s chances with their lavish lifestyles, polluting stock portfolios and pernicious political influence. This is theft —pure and simple― a tiny few robbing billions of people of their future to feed their insatiable greed,” said Oxfam International’s Climate Change Policy Lead, Nafkote Dabi.
Oxfam’s research reveals that the wealthiest 1% have caused immense economic harm, crop losses, and excess deaths since 1990, with lasting consequences. The damage to low- and lower-middle-income countries over the past three decades is approximately three times the climate finance provided by rich nations. By 2050, their emissions will lead to crop losses that could have fed 10 million people annually in Eastern and Southern Asia.
Additionally, 80% of excess deaths from heat will occur in low-income countries, with 40% of those deaths concentrated in Southern Asia. The study underscores the disproportionate impact of climate change on poorer regions.
Oxfam urges governments to take decisive action on climate change by reducing emissions from the wealthiest individuals and corporations. It calls for the introduction of income and wealth taxes on the top 1%, a ban or high taxation on luxury carbon-intensive items like private jets and superyachts, and regulation of corporations to cut emissions. Oxfam also stresses the need for rich polluters to contribute more to climate finance, pointing out that while wealthy nations pledged $300 billion annually for the Global South, this is far less than the $5 trillion owed in climate debt and reparations.
“Governments need to stop pandering to the richest. Rich polluters must be made to pay for the havoc they’re wreaking on our planet. Tax them, curb their emissions, and ban their excessive indulgences —private jets, superyachts, and the like. Leaders who fail to act are effectively choosing complicity in a crisis that threatens the lives of billions,” said Dabi.
