A new report from the British charity Oxfam GB, which focuses on inequality and poverty, calls private jet use by the ultra-wealthy “a symbol of climate injustice.”
To keep warming within 1.5 °C, the richest one percent of the world must cut their carbon emissions by 97 percent by 2030 — a target Oxfam GB says is unlikely to be met.
“The future of our planet hangs by a thread, yet the wealthiest individuals are allowed to live extravagantly and pollute the environment,” said Chiara Ligouri, a senior climate justice policy advisor at Oxfam GB.
“Governments need to stop catering to the richest polluters and instead make them pay their fair share for the chaos they are causing on our planet,” she added.
Who are these individuals and what have they done to humanity?
The top one percent includes 77 million people worldwide. That group isn’t just billionaires and millionaires — it also includes anyone earning more than $140,000 a year, according to the Daily Mail.
According to the Oxfam GB report, the lifestyles of the ultra-wealthy generate far more carbon emissions than the average person’s lifestyle.
The annual carbon budget allows for emissions of 2.1 tons of CO2 per person per year. Meanwhile, the wealthy ignore that limit: each individual in the top one percent emits an average of 67 tons of CO2 per year. At that rate, they only need 10 days to use up their share of the global annual carbon budget.
Experts at Oxfam GB predict that between 2015 and 2030 the richest one percent will cut their per-person emissions by only five percent — far short of the 97 percent reduction needed. How can the wealthy be held accountable?
Ligouri said one solution is to significantly increase taxes on luxury items that harm the environment, such as private jets and superyachts.
The report was released shortly after researchers from Linnaeus University in Sweden found that private jets produced 15.6 million tons of CO2 in 2023, a 46 percent increase from 2019.
In 2023, each frequent flyer was responsible for emitting 2,400 tons of CO2 into the atmosphere — 500 times more than the average person.
That same year, the wealthiest jet owners, including singer Taylor Swift and Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, logged nearly 26,000 flight hours. Researchers say a substantial share of those trips could have been made by car or other, less-polluting forms of transport.
