Oxfam calls for taxes to curb 'polluting toys' of super-rich

The high carbon emissions of the world's richest 1% are worsening hunger, poverty and excess deaths, a report has found.

- Jonathan Watts, Jillian Ambrose

Owing to luxury yachts, private jets and investments in polluting industries, the consumption of the world's wealthiest people is also making it increasingly difficult to limit global heating to 1.5C.

If everyone on Earth emitted planet-warming gases at the same rate as the average billionaire, the remaining carbon budget to stay within 1.5C would be gone in less than two days, the Oxfam analysis said, rather than current estimates of four years if carbon emissions remain as they are today.