MILANO – In mid-October, Meta deleted some people’s accounts overnight private jet hunters. The reason? By monitoring the flights of celebrities such as Elon Musk, Donald Trump or Mark Zuckerberg himself, number one of Metathey could have put their safety at risk. One wonders whether sooner or later someone will adopt the same diligence to prevent these and other billionaires, with their unnecessarily lavish lifestyle, from putting the climate at risk. And, therefore, the safety of the Planet in which we all live. This is what we read in an article published by Valori.itnews on ethical finance and sustainable economythe online newspaper directed by Andrea Barolini.
Inequalities split humanity in two. Once again, data published by the NGO Oxfam they demonstrate how inequalities split humanity in two. On the one hand, a few, very few, who pour gigantic quantities of emissions into the atmosphere. On the other hand, the absolute majority who pay the consequences without having the means to defend themselves.
Private jets and superyachts drain the carbon budget. The underlying principle is quite simple. To prevent the climate crisis from becoming a catastrophe, the increase in global temperature must be contained within 1.5 degrees centigrade compared to pre-industrial levels. To have at least a 50% chance of achieving this, humanity can still emit 250 giga-tons of CO2 into the atmosphere. This is ours carbon budget and we must somehow make it enough to avoid the worst. If emissions remain at current rates, this budget will run out in January 2029. Far too soon.
The richest 10% of the population generates half of the emissions. This is a global figure, but each of the 8 billion inhabitants of the planet has a different impact. The richest 10% of the population generates half of the emissions. In other words: the climate crisis caused by the super-rich is paid for by all the inhabitants of the planet. Furthermore: within this 10%, there is the richest 1% which alone totals 16%a larger share than that of the poorest two-thirds of humanity. If we all started pouring the same amount of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere as these 1% of billionaires, we would dry up the carbon budget in less than five months. If we equalized the impact of even just the superyachts and private jets of the 50 richest billionaires in the world, the carbon budget it would remain at zero in the space of just two days.
The CO2 of a billionaire’s 267 hours of flight, an ordinary person would produce in 112 years. When such profound inequalities emerge, it is natural to assume that the comparison is between the North and the South of the world. In reality, even within Europe the data is merciless. A super-rich, according to the analysis of Oxfamspends approximately 267 hours in flight each year. To generate the same amount of emissions, it would take an ordinary person more than an entire lifetime (to be precise, 112 years). Considering instead the consumption of superyachts, the emissions of a super-rich person are those that anyone else, again in Europe, would produce in 585 years. The superyachts and private jets of the 31 richest people in the European Union emitted 107 thousand tons of CO2 last year, like almost 13,400 citizens of the Old Continent combined.
40% of billionaires’ investments go to the largest sectors impactful. Furthermore, this impact pales in comparison to that of investments. The elite top 1% controls 43% of global financial assets, remember Oxfam. Each of the 50 richest billionaires in the world, through their investments, contributes to the emission of approximately 2.6 million tonnes of CO2 equivalent into the atmosphere. That is 340 times the emissions of private jets added to those of superyachts. For an ordinary person, who perhaps goes to work by public transport instead of by car, there is a billionaire who moves his money in the oil, mining, logistics or cement sector (40% of the investments analyzed fall here in the search for Oxfam). And, in doing so, it emits the same CO2 that the consumption of that common person could generate in almost 400 thousand years.
Tax extreme wealth for a more equal world. What to do? Tax extreme wealthfirst of all. Oxfam he has been insisting on this theme for some time, even through a European Citizens’ Initiative (which however ended with almost 350 thousand signatures, without reaching the million threshold). In the European Union alone, introducing a wealth tax for billionaires and multimillionaires, with a progressive rate of up to 5%, would mean collecting revenue of 286.5 billion dollars a year. The vast majority of the population would not be affected and the rich would remain rich. Governments could also introduce restrictions on the use of those luxury goods that are completely superfluous but have a disproportionate impact on the planet, starting with private jets and superyachts.
An economic system that incentivizes a few to consume everyone’s resources and accumulate wealth. With a broader look, we should have the courage to redesign a economic system which doesn’t work, because it authorizes – or rather, incentivizes – an elite to consume resources and accumulate wealth relentlessly. It’s an ambitious ideal, no doubt. But we need a drastic change of direction from one unfair reality. Because the emissions of the richest 1% of the European population, fueling the ongoing climate crisis, have caused the global gross domestic product to collapse by 179 billion dollars since 1990. They have compromised agricultural harvests which, between 1990 and 2023, they would have fed almost 900 thousand people a year. Due to heat waves, they risk causing almost 80 thousand deaths in the next century. An unacceptable cost, from every point of view.
* Valentina Neri – Valori.it
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