Private jets, yachts, investments; with a lifestyle like this, it is no surprise that billionaires have incredibly high carbon footprints. Some have taken accountability for their negative impact on the environment, but many question whether their acknowledgement is enough.
A carbon footprint is the measure of greenhouse gas emissions generated directly and indirectly by one’s actions. A study of 125 billionaires by Oxfam International—a global organization focused on inequality, poverty and injustice—showed that they each emit 3 million tons, on average, of carbon dioxide per year. This is equivalent to the carbon footprint of entire countries, such as France. In other words, one person
is emitting the same amount of carbon as 67 million people combined. It is also more than one million times the amount of carbon dioxide emitted by 90% of people.
Sustainability marketing firm Yard compiled a report of the celebrities whose private jets have the highest emissions. At the top of the list was Taylor Swift, using her jet 170 times between January and July of 2022, producing about 8,000 tons of carbon dioxide. This is nearly 1,000 times greater than the average person’s total annual emissions.
A spokesperson for Swift talked to the Washington Post, saying, “Taylor’s jet is loaned out regularly to other individuals. To attribute most or all of these trips to her is blatantly incorrect.”
Although Swift may not be the sole contributor to her jet’s exorbitant emissions, many argue that because the jet belongs to her, the environmental impact remains her responsibility.
Even greater than the emissions produced by the lavish lifestyles of billionaires are those that come from their investments. As high as 70% of each of their carbon footprints are a result of their investments in polluting industries, with only one billionaire in Oxfam’s study found to be invested in a renewable energy company.
Some believe that the most effective way to hold billionaires accountable and urge them to change is through government action.
“[Governments] should compel corporations and their rich investors to systematically cut their carbon emissions far more drastically if we are to avoid climate breakdown,” Oxfam said.
Nafkote Dabi, Climate Change Lead at Oxfam, also shares her perspective on the issue, emphasizing not how billionaires should be accountable, but why it is necessary that they are.
“The major and growing responsibility of wealthy people for overall emissions is rarely discussed or considered in climate policy making,” Dabi said. “These billionaire investors at the top of the corporate pyramid have huge responsibility for driving climate breakdown. They have escaped accountability for too long.”
