Super rich must pay for climate change impact: Oxfam

In one week, the super wealthy in Europe emit the same amount of greenhouse gas as one person in the poorest one per cent of the global population will in a life time, an Oxfam reports says.

"The super-rich in Europe are treating our planet like their personal playground," Chiara Putaturo, an EU inequalities and tax policy advisor at Oxfam said in a statement on Monday.

Oxfam published the study ahead of COP29, the UN Climate Change Conference in Baku in November, that will focus on how to finance projects to mitigate climate change in developing countries.

The anti-poverty non-governmental organisation (NGO) wants to put the focus back on the super wealthy, calling for wealth taxes and higher taxes on assets like private jets and superyachts.

Oxfam says the report shows how the super wealthy in Europe are worsening climate change at the expense of people in the poorest parts of the world.

"Their dirty investments, their private jets and yachts are not just symbols of excess; they are fuelling inequality, hunger and even death," Putaturo said.

"The super rich must foot the bill for their carbon footprint, not ordinary Europeans," Putaturo added.

According to Oxfam for example, in one year, an "ultra-rich European" on their yacht emits on average the same amount of carbon as an ordinary person in Europe would in 585 years.

The NGO also highlighted that nearly 40 per cent of billionaire investments analysed in their research were in highly polluting industries like mining, oil, and shipping.

The total investment emissions of 36 of the European Union's richest billionaires are equivalent to the annual carbon emissions of over 4.5 million Europeans, Oxfam said.