Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, November 22) — An analysis by the nonprofit organization Oxfam has exposed a stark contrast in carbon pollution, revealing that the carbon emissions of the richest 1% of Filipinos are equal to the combined emissions of the poorest 50% of the population.
The study, \”Climate Equality: A Planet for the 99%,\” highlighted the unequal distribution of emissions associated with different income groups up to 2019.
\”The report shows the stark gap between the carbon footprints of the super-rich — whose carbon-hungry lifestyles and investments in polluting industries like fossil fuels are driving global warming — and the bulk of people across the world,\” Oxfam Pilipinas Executive Director Erika Geronimo said.
Oxfam also emphasized the role of the richest 10% in the climate breakdown, noting that its contribution to the climate story is \”far less well known and documented\” along with the top 1%.
In the Philippines, the report claimed that the excessive carbon emissions in 2019 of the nation’s richest 10% of people contributed to 18,584 heat-related deaths.
It is true for the rest of the world, according to Oxfam.
The study found that the top 1% of the world’s population, or 77 million people, is accountable for 16% of the consumption-related emissions worldwide. This is equal to the emissions of 5.11 billion people, or 66% of the world’s population based on income.
Carbon emissions from private jets, planes cars, and yachts, among other high-end fossil fuel transport of the so-called super-rich, are enough to cause 1.3 million excess deaths due to heat, said Oxfam.
But carbon emissions and heat are not the only challenges faced by lower-income groups, particularly those living in poverty. Oxfam emphasized that climate change hit people in poverty the hardest as they tend to live in areas prone to flooding, heavy rains, heat stress, and other natural disasters, with poor-quality houses that often lack basic building safety.
Aside from not having savings and access to social protection insurance, the study stated that people in lower-income groups also face challenges in proving their losses since their assets are frequently unregistered or improperly acknowledged.
Oxfam said that this is true in the Philippines with regard to land tenure and when \”disputed\” land is taken from disaster victims, resulting in long-term relocation.
Citing other research, Oxfam noted that after Super Typhoon Yolanda (internationally known as Haiyan), \”only those who could prove their rights to land were given alternative lands, compensation, and access to insurance.\”
“The inequality of the climate crisis is more obvious when poorer communities in the Philippines are being made to bear the harshest burden of more severe and frequent disasters due to the climate crisis despite having minute carbon emissions compared to the 1% richest,\” Geronimo said.
\”And even with the best intentions to prepare for disasters, we are constantly dealing with further damage and loss,\” she added. \”We may not be able to keep up if we are not more committed and ambitious with our climate actions.\”
What can be done
Oxfam’s proposed solution is not new, but it is one that climate activists continue to fight for: taxing the ultra-rich and investing the proceeds in renewable energy.
\”A 60% tax on the incomes of the richest 1% would cut emissions by more than the total emissions of the UK and raise $6.4 trillion a year to pay for the transition away from fossil fuels to renewable energy,\” said the Oxfam report, which advocates for a new round of taxes on corporations and billionaires.
The report noted that the top 1%’s income level varies by nation and takes purchasing power equality into account, but analysis conducted within-country sheds further light on the differences.
Oxfam said that in France, the top 1% of earners emit the same amount of carbon in a year as the bottom 50% does in a decade. When emissions related to investments are taken out of the equation, the carbon footprint of Bernard Arnault, the richest person in France and the creator of Louis Vuitton, is 1,270 times greater than that of the typical French citizen.
