ROMA – An entire lifetime, for an average person, is not enough to produce as many carbon emissions as billionaires produce in just 90 minutes. Thus begins the article published by Blacknessthe monthly magazine of the Comboni missionaries founded in January 1883, considered the most complete tool for fully understanding the complex African realities. The article takes up the last one Oxfam reporttitled Carbon Inequality Kills and which, with an innovative research approach, highlights how the emissions of the richest fuel devastating global inequalities, threatening entire populations.
The consumption analysis of 50 billionaires. Starting from the analysis of the consumption of fifty billionaires, the study highlights that their lifestyle, including private flights, luxury yachts, and highly polluting investments, is consuming the last carbon resources on the planet, accelerating the climate crisis. So much so that if everyone caused emissions equal to the richest 1% of the global population, this would run out in a few months.
Sub-Saharan Africa will pay the most consequences. Sub-Saharan Africa is at the forefront of the regions of the world that will suffer the consequences. While currently contributing minimally to the global impact, it is already facing an exponential increase in phenomena such as droughtfamines and floods. In 2023 alone, the climate crisis has left 31.5 million people severely food insecure, especially in countries in the Horn of Africa.
It’s not just a problem of malnutrition. The issue concerns the entire economy of the continent, which is estimated to lose around 2.4% of GDP by 2050. Globally, we are talking about 3 trillion dollars in economic losses. Not to mention that the victims caused by heat in a hundred years from now, as predicted, will be recorded in 78% of cases in medium-low income countries.
A change of pace for the protection of justice and equality. It is therefore not just a question of preventing pollution, but of imposing a change of pace in the protection of social justice and equality. And with a minimum of effort, it would be possible to partially remedy this. In fact, those who conducted the research underlined that the introduction of a permanent tax on the most polluting investments conducted by the 1% of the richest population on the planet would generate up to 100 billion dollars a year.
Ahead of the next COP 29 on climate in Baku. Already last September, Greenpeace Africa and other organizations had launched a appeal to the African negotiators who will participate in COP29, from 11 November in Baku, Azerbaijan, to push for those most responsible for the environmental crisis to make more funds available. This, however, is achieved by overcoming the model of carbon offsets and credits, which is proving to be increasingly ineffective and which in fact is not considered by the signatories of the appeal to be part of the possible financing in this area.
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