Carbon Billionaires

The investment emissions of the world’s richest people

In Burkina Faso, Kadigueta Barry is internally displaced. She fled with her husband, leaving everything behind. She cuts firewood that she fetched from the forest. Credit: Samuel Turpin/ Oxfam
Paper publication date: 
Monday 07 November 2022

The world’s richest people emit huge and unsustainable amounts of carbon and, unlike ordinary people, 50% to 70% of their emissions result from their investments. New analysis of the investments of 125 of the world’s richest billionaires shows that on average they are emitting 3 million tonnes a year, more than a million times the average for someone in the bottom 90% of humanity.