Our key takeaway: The climate crisis and the inequality crisis are inextricably linked. We cannot resolve one without tackling the other, and the exacerbation of one, heightens the other. Indeed, the richest 1% were responsible for 16% of global emissions, which equates to the emissions of the poorest 66% in 2019. The outsized emissions of the super-rich has adverse effects on efforts to tackle climate change and on people’s lives, health and wellbeing. For instance, annual global emissions of the richest 1% cancel out carbon savings for almost a million onshore wind turbines and can cause 1.3 million deaths due to climate-related heat stress. Marginalised groups, such as those living in poverty, women and Indigenous Peoples are disproportionately affected by rising inequality and climate change despite contributing the least to these twin crises and being the least prepared to tackle and rebuild after emergencies. Oxfam and the Stockholm Environment Institute (SEI) argues for a three-pronged approach to tackle the twin crises: (1) A radical increase in equality (Radically increase equality by reducing the wealth gap between the richest and the poorest people and countries); (2) A fast and just transition away from fossil fuels (Ensure a fast and just transition to clean energy, with a focus on securing safe, clean and accessible energy for all); and (3) A new purpose for a new age (Transform the current economic system from one based on continuous extraction and consumption benefitting only a few, to one based on centring the health and wellbeing of humanity and nature). The report issues a call to action: “Only by fighting and winning these two struggles together can we create a future for ourselves, for our children and for our planet.”
Oxfam and the Stockholm Environment Institute published Climate Equality: A Planet for the 99% (November 2023):