The wealthiest 0.1% of people worldwide produce more carbon pollution in a day than the poorest 50% of the world do in a year, the charity Oxfam said in a report on Wednesday.
According to the charity's report, based on 2023 data, one person from the world's richest 0.1% emits an average of over 800 kilograms (1,763.6 pounds) of carbon dioxide per day, compared with just 2 kilograms for the poorest 50%.
Per-capita emissions among the richest have increased by 32% since 1990, while the share the poorest half is responsible for has dropped by 3% over the same time span.
"The emissions of the richest 1% of people from 2019 alone will cause 1.3 million heat-related deaths over the next century, with women and older people at greatest risk," the report said.
"It is also estimated that the emissions of the richest 1% will cause $44 trillion of economic damage to low- and lower-middle-income countries by 2050."
The report draws on national carbon dioxide emissions data from 196 countries and global wealth distribution figures. Oxfam researchers said emissions generally rise with income, though there are certain lower and upper bounds.
"The climate crisis is an inequality crisis. The very richest individuals in the world are funding and profiting from climate destruction, leaving the global majority to bear the fatal consequences of their unchecked power," said Oxfam International's executive director Amitabh Behar.
"It is a travesty that power and wealth have been allowed to accumulate in the hands of a few, who are only using it to entrench their influence further and lock us all into a path to planetary destruction," Behar continued.
"We must break the chokehold of the super-rich over climate policy by taxing their extreme wealth, banning their lobbying and instead putting those most affected by the climate crisis in the front seat of climate decision-making," Behar added.
The pattern is similar in Germany, where the wealthiest 0.1% emit more than 840 kilograms of carbon dioxide per day, compared to the 16 kilograms emitted by the poorest half of the population, according to 2022 data. Oxfam noted that most of the richest 0.1% live in the world's wealthier countries.
