We’re only 10 days into 2025.
But the world’s richest one per cent have already burned through their share of carbon for the year.
That’s according to a new analysis by Oxfam, which has dubbed the alarming milestone ‘Pollutocrat Day’.
The charity largely blames the super-rich’s reliance on private jets, which it calls the ‘poster child of climate injustice’.
To meet the vital goal of keeping global warming within 1.5°C, the richest one per cent need to cut their emissions by a staggering 97 per cent by 2030.
‘The future of our planet is hanging by a thread, yet the super-rich are being allowed to continue to squander humanity’s chances with their lavish lifestyles and polluting investments,’ said Chiara Liguori, Oxfam GB’s Senior Climate Justice Policy Advisor.
‘Governments need to stop pandering to the richest polluters and instead make them pay their fair share for the havoc they’re wreaking on our planet.
‘Leaders who fail to act are culpable in a crisis that threatens the lives of billions.’
The world’s richest one per cent is made up of 77 million individuals around the world.
This includes billionaires and millionaires, as well as those earning over $140,000 (£113,000).
According to Oxfam’s latest report, the super-rich’s carbon emissions far exceed those of ordinary people.
While the annual carbon budget allocates 2.1 tonnes of CO2 per capita, this elite group blows this out of the water.
Every year, the super-rich release a whopping 67 tonnes of CO2 per capita, meaning it takes them just 10 days to use up their share of the global annual carbon budget.
In stark contrast, the average person in the poorest 50 per cent of the global population uses just 0.7 tonnes of CO2 per year.
This means it would take them almost three years to use up their share.
Oxfam has calculated that, in order to align with the 1.5°C goal of the Paris Agreement, the super-rich need to slash their carbon emissions by 97 per cent by
However, between 2015 and 2030, the richest one per cent are set to reduce their per capita consumption emissions by just five per cent.
Ms Liguori said: ‘As global temperatures continue to climb, the UK must show how it will generate its own share of new, fair funding to meet the escalating climate finance needs and fight inequality.
‘Significantly higher taxes on polluting luxuries like private jets and superyachts is an obvious place for the Government to start.’
Jamie Livingstone, head of Oxfam Scotland, has dubbed private jets the ‘poster child of climate injustice’.
‘Private jets are the poster child of climate injustice, heaping yet more unnecessary pollution on a planet that’s already consumed by a deadly combination of floods, fire and famine,’ he said.
Oxfam’s report comes shortly after scientists from Linnaeus University in Sweden found that private jets produced 15.6 million tonnes of CO2 in 2023, up 46 per cent from 2019.
The most frequent fliers each churned out 2,400 tonnes of emissions in 2023 – more than 500 times as much as the average individual.
In 2023, ultra-rich jet owners – including the likes of pop star Taylor Swift and Amazon founder Jeff Bezos – flew for almost 26,000 hours over 4,301,561 individual flights.
However, the researchers argue that a sizeable amount of these journeys could have been made by car or other means of transport.
Almost half the private jet flights made in 2023 covered less than 310 miles (500km) – about the distance from Edinburgh to London.
Meanwhile, almost five per cent travelled less than 31 miles (50km).
Lead author Professor Stefan Gössling told MailOnline: ‘It indeed shows that we have many individuals among the very wealthy with outsized carbon footprints.’
