A billionaire emits a million times more greenhouse gases: Oxfam

The investments of 125 of the world’s richest billionaires yield an annual average of three million tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions a year, more than a million times the average for someone in the bottom 90 per cent of humanity, according to a new report by non-profit group Oxfam.

These super rich people have a collective $2.4 trillion stake in 183 companies.

Their investments in polluting industries such as fossil fuels and cement are double the average for the Standard and Poor group of 500 companies, said the report titled “Carbon Billionaires: The investment emissions of the world’s richest people”.

Cumulatively, these 125 billionaires fund 393 million tonnes of CO2e (carbon dioxide equivalent) per year, which is equal to the annual carbon emissions of France, a nation of 67 million people.