World on Fire

The more money you make, the more of a mess you make. COP28 and the Oxfam report.

COP28 is the UN's latest round of global climate talks. This year its host is the petrostate United Arab Emirates. The Pope, King Charles, and 167 world leaders jetted in to procrastinate, deflect and deny, then eventually agree that something must be done. But nothing will be done. As reported by the BBC, their hosts in Dubai see COP28 as a great opportunity to strike new oil and gas deals.

Meanwhile, two weeks ago Oxfam completed a comprehensive study of climate inequality, and as with most climate news, it’s worse than we thought.

The majority try not to add to this monstrous earth-eating problem. We recycle, compost, avoid plastic packaging and we consider our consumption. We are aware of what we eat, how much energy we use, water, gas, petrol and electricity. We are aware of the cost, the origins and the impact its extraction has on our environment. Some are better at this life than others, depending on where you live and what you can afford. But it turns out our individual efforts are ineffectual.

Greta Thunberg writes in the preface to Oxfam’s report. “Either we safeguard living conditions for all future generations, or we let a few very rich people maintain their destructive lifestyles and preserve an economic system geared towards short-term economic growth and shareholder profit.”

The most damning headline from the Oxfam report is this:

The richest 1% of the population produced the same amount of carbon pollution in one year as the 5 billion people who make up the poorest two-thirds.

It takes a second for that to sink in.

This elite group, the 1% polluter elite, made up of 77 million people are mostly white men. Billionaires, millionaires and those paid more than 140 thousand US$ a year, emitted the same amount of carbon pollution as the poorest 66% of humanity in 2019. Four years ago. The most recent year for which there is comprehensive data.

Here’s another one:

The richest 10% of humanity is responsible for 50% of all carbon emissions. This champagne glass from the Guardian is an appropriate visual.

The richest 10% of humanity have a huge appetite for carbon. Their lifestyles, travel, investments and businesses they own accounts for half of all emissions. The rich are driving us towards extinction in their private planes and SUVs. The polluter elite are most definitely aware of the damage they do but they don’t want change. They are doing everything they can to stay at the top of the shit pile.

The middle 40% of earners still emit double the average carbon budget that everyone would need to stick to if the world is to have any chance of avoiding climate death. The middle classes probably know they need to do more to consume less, and I think many of the middle classes embrace green lifestyles but are forced to compromise while trying to support families, pay the mortgage and live a reasonably comfortable life.

The poorest 50% of the world’s population are only responsible for 8% of global carbon emissions. It’s the poor that keeps our average down. The poor with their minimal emissions have probably postponed the advancing disaster, delaying the inevitable for a few more years. The poorest are in no position to do anything except protest. They don’t add to the problem, but they are suffering the most. Their poverty means they are powerless to protect themselves.

And right at the bottom of the glass are the dregs, the hundreds of millions who live in extreme poverty and barely register any carbon emissions. It’s the poorest that suffer the most from climate inequality. They are the ones dying in the hottest places on Earth because they can’t afford any protection.

Wealth seems to be the biggest factor in emissions. The more money you make, the more of a mess you make. We are all striving to make money, to save money so we can spend money, but if we were all poor, we wouldn’t be capable of ruining the planet. We wouldn’t be able to afford the lifestyles that are doing the damage. The climate crisis worsens inequality and inequality worsens the climate crisis.

The carbon criminals have been aware of the looming crisis for decades. They have had time to deflect, deny and spread disinformation. In 2004, British Petroleum (BP) began one of their most effective strategies. The carbon footprint calculator, which encourages consumers to take responsibility for their emissions, instead of BP who make trillions from pumping oil and gas. They put the responsibility of their pollution onto the consumers, and it worked.

Then we have the dubious accounting trick of carbon credits, which allows the big polluters to continue polluting as long as someone plants some trees somewhere. And carbon capture, which also allows for continued massive emissions as long as the carbon is captured and stored to be somehow dealt with in the future. Both of these distractions are being offered as solutions so the coal mines, the petrochemical plants, the fracking and the oil fields can continue to expand, and the wealthiest 10% get to keep enjoying their flatulent lifestyles.

The Oxfam report shows that humans are not all equal, and we are not equally to blame for rising temperatures, destructive storms, longer droughts and ferocious forest fires. It is the rich that are letting us down. Which means there is a simple solution to climate apocalypse. Just take their money!

As a result of the study, Oxfam is calling for wealth taxes on the super-rich and fossil fuel companies to support the worst affected, reduce inequality and fund a transition to renewable energy. A 60% tax on the incomes of the wealthiest 1% would raise $6.4 trillion a year and cut carbon emissions by 695 million tonnes.

Sign the petition here: Take part - MAKE THE RICH POLLUTERS PAY!

There are 2600 billionaires in the world. We should start with them. More specifically with the host of Cop28. The UAE ruler, Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, belongs to the richest family on the planet. The Al Nahyan clan owns 6% of the world’s oil reserves. They are worth more than $300 billion. The family’s carbon emissions are also enormous. They own or have shares in: Manchester City football club, a Formula One racetrack, the Ferrari World indoor theme park, SpaceX, most of London’s Berkeley Square, a dozen or more palaces and a huge Indian coalmining company called Adani enterprises that recently had the fastest growing stock valuation in the world. 28,000% in just five years.

If the COP28 delegates need motivation for stripping Sheikh Mohamed of his wealth, they only need look outside. The migrant labour force that builds the UAE are mostly from India, the Philippines and North Africa. Their carbon output is minimal, but their exposure is maximum. Most work outside in 40+ degrees building the spectacular venue Expo City.

Many of the attendees at Cop28 are senior politicians including US senators, British ministers and European commissioners, who are in the top 1% of income earners and they wield enormous political power. They are the polluter elite, and they are the ones deciding our climatic future. In the USA, one in four members of Congress own stocks in fossil fuel companies.

Capitalist politics dictate that we must have economic growth. Intentional degrowth is political poison and never mentioned. It’s insane that countries GDPs are predicted to increase with the temperature. The hotter it gets, the more money they make. As long as this is the case, it’s going to be impossible to get anyone to agree on any meaningful changes.

Fear and anxiety can manifest in different ways depending on your income. For the poorest, it means fear of death by heat and floods. For the wealthiest, it means fear of increasingly desperate people. Billionaires live in protective bubbles maintained at a huge cost in dollars and emissions. Some think revolution is inevitable and are building doomsday bunkers in New Zealand, Nevada and other remote areas. Elon and Jeff want to abandon the planet in private rockets and colonise space. Instead of trying to reduce emissions, the billionaires increase their carbon output trying to put more distance between themselves and the rest of us.

As the world continues to end, the polluter elite, the carbon criminals oversee the horrific wars and deaths in the Ukraine and Gaza. Not only do wars require lots of fuel but they also distract. Climate change just doesn’t seem so urgent when children are dying in Gaza and the war in Ukraine enters another winter.

It’s up to the governments of the world to implement these taxes. To force the 2600 billionaires to pay. It is such a straightforward solution, but sadly it will probably never happen. Not one fossil fuel producing country has committed to reducing its fossil fuel production and it seems COP28 is where the dirty deals get done. We better start growing gills.

Further reading:

Air pollution from fossil fuels kills 5 million people a year.

And this from the always excellent George Monbiot who invented 2 new words. Pollutocrats and emuskulation.