Billionaires' Carbon Investment Emissions Equivalent To Greenhouse Gas Emitted In Whole Of France: Report

The investments of 125 of the richest billionaires in the world in carbon-intensive businesses result in as much greenhouse gas emissions as all of France, according to a new report, a new report showed. 

What Happened: An analysis examining the carbon impact of the investments of 125 billionaires, published on the opening of the COP27 UN climate talks by Oxfam, found they had a collective $2.4 trillion stake in 183 companies.

The report added that, on average, each of those billionaires’ investment emissions produced about three million tonnes of CO2 a year — which is about a million times more than that of those living in the bottom 90% of earners. 

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The 125 members of the super-rich emitted about 393 million tonnes of CO2 a year — equivalent to that of France, which has a population of 67 million.

"Each of these billionaires would have to circumnavigate the world almost 16 million times on a private jet to create the same emissions," it said, adding that about four million people would have to go vegan to offset the emissions of each of the billionaires.

The report called for the investments of the billionaires to be regulated and for a wealth tax with a steep rate of top-up on investments in polluting industries, such as fossil fuels and cement.

"We need Cop27 to expose and change the role that big corporates and their rich investors are playing in profiting from the pollution that is driving the global climate crisis. It is people in low-income countries who've done the least to cause it who are suffering the most — as we are seeing with the devastating drought in east Africa and catastrophic floods in Pakistan," Danny Sriskandarajah, Oxfam chief executive, said.

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