Study: World’s richest 1% emit the same amount of carbon as 5 billion of the world’s poorest
The carbon footprint of the world’s wealthiest one percent is comparable to the combined emissions of two-thirds of the world’s poorest population, according to a study.
The study by Oxfam International found that the emissions of the wealthy 77 million persons is roughly the same amount as the emissions of five billion people on the bottom half of the population. It added that a person in the bottom 99 percent will take roughly 1,500 years to produce as much carbon as a wealthy billionaire does in a year. The Oxfam study made use of data from the Stockholm Environment Institute’s (SEI) analysis of carbon emissions across various income groups up to 2019.
But looking deeper, the study suggests an unexpected disparity in carbon emissions between the global elites and the rest of the population. It also fuels the ongoing debate about the apparent hypocrisy of wealthy persons advocating for carbon reduction while indulging in extravagant, carbon-intensive lifestyles.
Moreover, the Oxfam paper underscores the actions of global leaders and policymakers who – despite leading discussions on climate change – continue their use of carbon-spewing private jets.
For instance, global leaders used 1,040 private jets to attend the World Economic Forum’s 2022 meeting in Davos, Switzerland. The United Nations Climate Change Conferences in 2021 (Glasgow, Scotland) and 2023 (Dubai, United Arab Emirates) also had the same problem. In reality, private jets are estimated to emit 10 times more carbon dioxide per person compared to commercial flights, and approximately 50 times more than trains.
Bill Gates and other elites get a pass because they are “helping fight climate change”
Meanwhile, global elites stood their ground despite mounting criticism from the plebs of their carbon-intensive lifestyles.
Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates justified his jet-setter lifestyle in an interview with the BBC‘s Amol Rajan. The technocrat said it is perfectly fine for him to fly around the world on private jets because he continues to “spend billions of dollars” on climate change activism. Indeed, Gates has the money to burn as evidenced by his ownership of four private jets that cost a total of $194 million.
A study by Stefan Gossling, an economics professor at Linnaeus University in Sweden, found that Gates took 59 private jet trips amounting to more than 213,000 kilometers (132,352 miles) in 2017. Meanwhile, data from the World Bank disclosed that Gates has already emitted 1,760 tons of carbon dioxide – a hundred times more than the emissions per capita in the United States.
U.S. Special Climate Envoy John Kerry also faced criticism for flying to Iceland on a private jet in 2019. The former secretary of state during the Obama administration had been awarded for his climate leadership. At the time, Kerry defended his use of private jets, citing the necessity of offsetting carbon when traveling globally to address climate issues.
However, a round trip to Iceland by private jet would emit about 90 tons of carbon. In contrast, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) estimated that a typical passenger vehicle would only produce about 4.6 tons of carbon in a year.
Gates and Kerry lecturing people about “climate change” and minimizing one’s carbon footprint, while flying on carbon-guzzling private jets themselves, can only be described using one word – hypocrisy.
For more information, you can watch this January 2023 episode of America Unhinged, where Dr. John Diamond and Bill Federer call out the globalist WEF for acting like gods.
yogaesoteric
December 21, 2023
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