World leaders should aggressively reduce the carbon footprint of the richest to curb the effects of climate change, experts said.
It comes after a UN report found that the richest 1% pumped into the atmosphere more than twice as much carbon as the lower 50%.
It’s not the first time rich figures have been accused of driving climate change with their luxurious lifestyle choices.
Orlando Bloom, Katy Perry and Leonardo DiCpario were among a large number of well-tainted celebrities criticized for attending a Google climate summit in Italy last year, arriving with private planes and yachts leaving a carbon footprint. 800 tons.
Katy Perry (center left) and Orlando Bloom (center right) were one of the celebrities criticized by a Google climate conference in Italy last year which they attended via a private jet and a yacht (at the image, on camera, there is Oprah Winfrey and Bradley Cooper)
Perry and Bloom had entered the Sicilian conference on the Rising Sun, a huge private yacht owned by music and film producer David Geffen (at the back)
DiCaprio, the United Nations climate ambassador, has previously been criticized for talking about the issue despite often flying private jets, renting a yacht to an oil baron and owning four houses.
Oxfam’s Confronting Carbon Desequality report pointed to SUVs and frequent flying as two of the most important engines in the 1% carbon footprint, and many billionaires are known to own private jets.
Like the UN report, released this week, it was found that the top 1 percent contributes significantly more to climate change than the bottom 50 percent.
Jeff Bezos, the richest man in the world, is known to have flown a $ 65 million Gulfstream jet and in October 2018 he was seen driving an SUV to the airport with then-lover Lauren Sanchez before of jumping on board the plane.
Billioanire Mark Cuban owns three planes: a Gulfstream that he uses as private transportation and two Boeing commercial planes, one that he rents as a charter and another that he uses to fly his basketball team, Business Insider reported.
And while producing green electric cars through Tesla, Elon Musk’s love for private jets has already reached the headlines after flying 150,000 miles on a Gulfstream jet in 2018.
Other billionaires who own polluting vehicles are Russian oligarchs Roman Abramovich and Alisher Usmanov, owners of two of the world’s largest private yachts.
Leonardo DiCaprio was also criticized for attending the conference, which had previously been set on fire for its use of private jets (pictured landing a plane in 2013)
DiCaprio, the UN climate ambassador, has spoken out frequently on the issue for several years, despite criticism of some of his own life choices.
According to the UN, the richest will have to significantly reduce their CO2 footprints to avoid dangerous levels of global warming this century.
The annual study, conducted by the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP), highlights the gap between emission levels that should be located to keep temperatures low and current levels of emissions. real life.
It was found that the world’s 10% largest wage earners devour approximately 45% of all energy consumed for land transportation worldwide and 75% of that used for aviation.
Meanwhile, 50% of the world’s poorest households consume only 10% and 5%, respectively.
To achieve the goal of restricting temperature rises in this century to 1.5 ° C, it will be necessary to make significant cuts in carbon footprints of 1%, reducing them to approximately 2.5 tons of CO2 per capita. in 2030.
“This elite will have to reduce its footprint by a factor of 30 to stay in line with the goals of the Paris Agreement,” Unep CEO Inger Anderson wrote in a prologue to the report .
“The rich have the biggest responsibility in this area,” he added.
Tim Gore, Oxfam’s head of climate policy and author who contributed to the report, said that while the world’s richest consumed more, others had negative environmental effects.
Other figures of 1% for frequent use of polluting vehicles are Jeff Bezos (left), owner of a $ 65 million plane, and Roman Abramovich (right), owner of one of the largest yachts in the world .
“The UNEP report shows that the excessive consumption of a rich minority is fueling the climate crisis, but it is poor communities and young people who are paying the price.”
“It will be virtually and politically impossible to close the emissions gap if governments do not reduce the carbon footprint of the rich and end the inequalities that leave millions of people without access to power or unable to heat their homes,” Gore said.
According to the BBC, taking a less long-haul flight could reduce an individual’s CO2 consumption by almost two tonnes of CO2.
Households switching to renewable electricity can reduce carbon by 1.5 tons, while eating a vegetarian diet can save about half a ton on average, he said.
The report, released on Wednesday, also found that the positive environmental effects of the blockades planned earlier this year aimed at curbing the spread of coronavirus are likely to be short-lived.
He predicted that carbon production will have fallen by around 7% this year due to the pandemic, but estimated that the reduction would only curb warming by 0.01C by 2050.
Rising temperatures are a contributing factor to the wildfires that caused devastation in Australia, the Amazon and California (pictured) this year, along with other locations
However, the report highlighted that countries have the opportunity to look for a greener mode of pandemic recovery.
It was found that if the government invests in climate actions, emissions projected for 2030 could be reduced by 25%.
This would give a 66% chance that the planet will maintain temperatures below 2C.
“2020 will be one of the warmest on record, while wildfires, storms and droughts continue to wreak havoc,” Inger Andersen said.
However, the Unep’s Emissions Gap report shows that a recovery from the green pandemic can pull off a huge portion of greenhouse gas emissions and help curb climate change.
“I urge governments to support a green recovery in the next stage of Covid-19’s fiscal interventions and significantly increase its climate ambitions by 2021.”
The green recovery so far has been limited, according to the report, although some countries have committed to issuing net zeros by 2050.
However, the ambition of the Paris Climate Agreement should be tripled to maintain the 2C target and multiplied by five to reach the 1.5C target.