Richest 0.1% Emit More Carbon In A Day Than Poorest Half Do In A Year, Warns Oxfam

In a stark new warning ahead of COP30 in Brazil, Oxfam International has laid bare the scale of climate injustice: one person in the world’s richest 0.1 per cent emits more CO₂ in a single day than someone from the poorest half of humanity emits in an entire year.

The report “Climate Plunder: How a Powerful Few Are Locking the World into Disaster” finds that a member of the richest 0.1 per cent produces on average over 800 kg of CO₂ per day, compared with around 2 kg per day for someone in the poorest 50 per cent of the global population. ADVERTISEMENT

If everyone in the world emitted at that richest-0.1 per cent level, the planet’s remaining “carbon budget” – the limit of CO₂ we can emit while still aiming for the 1.5 °C warming threshold – would be exhausted in less than three weeks.