The richest 1 percent have already used up their annual carbon budget in ten days, says Oxfam

It takes someone from the poorest half of the world’s population almost 3 years (1,022 days) to use up his or her share of that annual global carbon budget.

“This alarming milestone, dubbed ‘Pollutocrat Day’ by Oxfam, underlines how climate breakdown is disproportionately driven by the super-rich, whose emissions far exceed those of ordinary people,” it said.

To reach the 1.5 degree Celsius target, the richest 1 percent must reduce their emissions by 97 percent by 2030.

“The future of our planet hangs in the balance. The margin for action is razor thin, yet the super-rich continue to squander our opportunities with their lavish lifestyles, polluting stock portfolios and pernicious political influence. This is theft – pure and simple –: a small number of people are robbing billions of their future to feed their insatiable greed,” said Nafkote Dabi, head of climate policy at Oxfam International.

Millions of deaths

Oxfam’s research also shows that emissions from the richest 77 million individuals, including billionaires, millionaires and people earning more than $140,000 a year, have caused trillions in economic damage, extensive crop losses and millions of excess deaths since 1990.

The United Nations Environment Program estimated in 2024 that approximately 24 Gt CO₂ equivalent may still be emitted in 2030 if we want to keep warming below 1.5 degrees Celsius. If only the CO₂ share is taken into account, this amounts to approximately 17.8 gigatons. Evenly distributed among all world inhabitants, this corresponds to an annual carbon budget of 2.1 tons of CO₂/person.