The staggering accumulation of wealth and power by a privileged few is driving both social and ecological breakdown. It is in everybody’s interest to solve this problem. [3,300 words, 17 minutes read time.]
The climate breakdown contributes to billion-dollar damages in our neighbourhoods – houses burned to the ground, cars destroyed in floods, livelihoods ruined, lives lost.
The wealthiest people on our planet have a huge responsibility for this devastation. Wealth accumulation translates directly into planetary destruction. In just the first ten days of 2025, the world’s wealthiest 1% burned through their fair share of the global carbon budget for the entire year. Their lavish lifestyles, private jets, and polluting investments are causing more damage than entire nations.
According to Oxfam, the emissions generated by this elite group in less than two weeks would take the poorest 50% of humanity three years to produce.
When the story changes
However, who will hold those wealthy people accountable for this? Who will build a system that prioritises sustainability, equity, justice and safety over profit for the few?
This would require a massive political power shift which appears to be out of reach. At least, Trump and his allies worldwide are currently doing all they can to pull the world in the opposite direction.
But, really – this is only until that day, and it could be some day soon, when the story changes.
For much too long, media has treated the climate crisis as an isolated “environmental problem”. We hear about the extreme weather events in the news on a daily basis. But the reality of the climate crisis is never explained. First of all: that it is a symptom of our burning of coal, oil and gas, eating meat, and so on. And then: that it is a symptom of an even deeper issue – an inequality crisis.
The staggering accumulation of wealth and power by a privileged few is driving both social and ecological breakdown. Unless we address this systemic imbalance, we will never be able to effectively tackle the rising emissions that threaten our very existence.
The power of unearned wealth
The ultra-rich are hoarding the earth’s remaining carbon budget, ensuring that the rest of the world bears the burden of climate change’s catastrophic effects.
Wealth inequality is not just about earnings – it’s about systems designed to sustain privilege. Research suggests that 60% of billionaire wealth is unearned, originating from inheritance, corporate monopolies, and political cronyism. These extreme concentrations of wealth allow the super-rich to lobby governments, exploit tax loopholes, and protect their economic interests at the expense of the public good.
This influence extends beyond tax policy – it shapes climate policy. When corporations and billionaires prioritise profit over people, they use their money to influence politicians and make them block meaningful climate action.
Fossil fuel subsidies, deregulation, and greenwashing campaigns ensure that polluters remain unchecked while everyday citizens shoulder the consequences of environmental degradation.
Cost of climate injustice
The climate emergency is quickly developing into a social and economic catastrophe. The wealthiest individuals and corporations create the most emissions, yet it is the world’s poorest – especially Indigenous communities, women, and people in the Global South – who suffer the worst consequences. Rising sea levels, extreme weather events, and food insecurity disproportionately impact those who have contributed the least to the crisis.
In Australia, subsidies from the government to the fossil fuel industry amounted to $14.5 billion in 2023-2024 – money that could have been used to fund renewable energy, disaster relief, and social programmes. While billionaire wealth surged by $28 billion last year, millions of Australians struggled with the rising cost of living.
A system that allows billionaires to amass $67,000 an hour while ordinary people fight to keep their homes warm in winter – or cool in summer – is the same system that prioritises short-term profits over long-term planetary survival.
Taxing the super-rich to fund climate solutions
The solution is not more GDP growth – it’s redistribution. Governments must tax extreme wealth and corporate monopolies to fund urgent climate action and social programmes. A fair wealth tax could finance:
- Renewable energy infrastructure to transition away from fossil fuels
- Climate adaptation measures to protect communities from rising sea levels and extreme weather
- Affordable housing, healthcare, and education, ensuring a just transition for workers in fossil fuel-dependent industries
- Support for First Nations and vulnerable communities who are disproportionately affected by both economic inequality and climate disasters
Rewriting the rules
After global elites recently gathered in Davos to discuss “the future”, we must ask: whose future are they shaping? The status quo benefits the few at the expense of the many. We can no longer afford to let money dictate policy while the planet burns.
Taxing the super-rich is not just about economic fairness. It is about survival of life on this tiny blue dot in the universe we call Planet Earth. By shifting resources away from the unchecked excesses of the ultra-wealthy and towards collective climate solutions, we can avoid the imminent collapse and build a future that serves both people and the planet.
THE FUTURE IS FAIR AND EQUAL
Oxfam: Calling on governments to tax the super rich and corporate monopolies
| $67,000 an hour. That’s how much one of Australia’s 47 billionaires made on average last year – 1,300 times more than what the average Australian every hour. As the cost-of-living crisis continues to drag on, Australian billionaire wealth rose by $28 billion – a staggering $3.2 million per hour collectively. Today, the world’s elites descend upon the luxury Swiss mountain resort of Davos for the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting. Meanwhile, Oxfam’s latest inequality report, ‘Takers Not Makers’, reveals a centuries-old system designed to benefit the super-rich at the expense of First Peoples, women and people living in poverty. Shockingly, our report shows: Globally, billionaire wealth surged by $3 trillion last year. The world is on track to see five trillionaires over the next decade.Meanwhile, 3.5 billion people – 44% of humanity – continue to live on less than $11 a day. The wealth of the world’s 10 richest people – all men – grew, on average, by over $150 million a day. Even if they lost 99% of their wealth overnight, they would still wake up as billionaires. What’s more, we found that most extreme wealth in the world is unearned. We estimate 60% of billionaire wealth comes from inheritance, corporate monopoly power or crony connections. With piles of unearned wealth, the ultra-rich and powerful corporations routinely lobby for and exploit loopholes to pay no-to-little tax. Its time to Make Tax Fair by taxing the super rich! Sign our email to the Treasurer The historic and ongoing impacts of colonialism also drive billionaire wealth accumulation. This deeply harmful and divisive racist legacy can be seen here in Australia today, where a third of the First Nations people are in the poorest 20% of the population. So what can be done about this wealth inequality, as overlapping crises of conflict, climate change disasters and the high cost-of-living persist? To meet the challenges of the decade, Oxfam is calling on governments worldwide to take bold action to tax the super rich and corporate monopolies so governments can invest in affordable housing, healthcare, education, humanitarian aid, First Nations equality and meaningfully tackling the climate change crisis. Together, we can rewrite the rules and challenge the systems that have entrenched inequality for generations. Take the first step today. Act now to Make Tax Fair: Email the Treasurer and tell him to tackle inequality. MAKE TAX FAIR  With hope for justice, Lyn Morgain CEO, Oxfam Australia P.S. Want to dive deeper? Read the full Takers Not Makers report here.   Postal address: Oxfam Australia, Locked Bag 20004, Melbourne VIC 3001, Australia Freecall: 1800 088 110, Mon-Fri 9am — 5pm AEST Email / Website enquire@oxfam.org.au www.oxfam.org.au |
“You can see what happens when you don’t take action to address inequalities over time – that can lead to a lack of trust, a lack of social cohesion and, ultimately, polarisation,” the report’s lead researcher, Cameron Allen, said.
The report’s analysis showed almost 24% of Australia’s wealth was held by the top 1% of income-earners, while the top 10% had 57% of the country’s wealth.
Australia fared better than the US, where 34.9% of its wealth was held by the top 1% and 70.7% by the top 10%.
→ The Guardian – 13 February 2025:
Share of wealth held by Australia’s poorest falls sharply since 2004 – report
“Study by Monash University recommends spending increase to fix inequalities in housing, health and education.”
“The trend that is emerging, and which will become starkly visible in a recession, is of an American society where a small but important number of households (say 20%) are wealthy enough to live well and access high quality education and healthcare, 40% of households live with the stress of becoming economically vulnerable and a further 30% live in serfdom in the sense that they have no leisure time (Newsweek estimates that one third of American workers has a second job).
Income inequality in the US is at historically very high levels, and the share of total income garnered by the top 1% of the workforce is tipping levels only seen in the 1930’s. Viewed from the point of view of wealth, 38% of the world’s millionaires live in America and over half of the ultra-high net worth (wealth over USD 50mn) individuals in the world are American. Indeed, the top 1% of wealthy Americans own 18.5% of all wealth in America, while the ‘bottom’ 50% of Americans own just 3% of wealth.”
~ Mike O’Sullivan, The Levelling
→ Heinrich Böll Stiftung – February 2025:
Climate Justice and Equitable Futures (E-Paper)
“What Is Missing in IPCC AR6 Scenarios and How to Go Beyond.”
“Aristotle found that if you have a deeply unequal society, the rich will try to control the government, and undermine democracy. Sometimes this results in a revolt of the poor, which can of course be violent like the French revolution, or the poor can coalesce behind a populist leader that can become a tyrant, who claims to serve the poor, but consolidates his power as a tyrannical head of a police state.”
~ Matt Orsagh, 23 January 2025
→ Matt Orsagh – 23 January 2025:
Inequality
“We can address it if we choose to.”
Podcast about inequality – and system shift
Did you know that you probably pay more taxes than the richest people on Earth? Did you also know that their taxes could drive significant social and environmental change, funding climate adaptation practices while addressing economic inequality?
In this episode, you will gain quick and important insights on:
✅ What is wealth tax?
✅ How does it work and how can it be a tool for redistributing resources?
✅ Who are the super-rich that governments should be taxing?
✅ What role could wealth tax play in financing climate mitigation and adaptation efforts?
Today, people have to deal with their basic end-of-the-month needs, while facing the end of the world in the form of extreme social inequality and climate chaos. We recognise that only environmental solutions that connect with people’s everyday concerns and beliefs will realise our vision for a green and peaceful planet.
SystemShift helps us explore how to move from a world that serves the economy to an economy that works for people and the planet.
→ Listen to Greenpeace’s podcast
Your voice doesn’t matter — money does
A study by Princeton and Northwestern professors analysed 20 years of data from nearly 2,000 public opinion surveys and found that the preferences of average Americans have “near-zero, statistically non-significant” impact on U.S. laws.
Instead, wealthy elites and powerful interest groups call the shots. And if you think that’s just theory, look around: the election of Trump and the rise of billionaires like Elon Musk to positions of massive influence show exactly what this study warned us about.
The reality? Americans aren’t living in a democracy – they’re living in a system rigged by money and power.
It’s time to wake up and take action. We must take collective action for systemic change.
Link to article and study here:
Article:
Study: Congress literally doesn’t care what you think
Study:
→ Cambridge University Press – 18 September 2014:
Testing Theories of American Politics: Elites, Interest Groups, and Average Citizens
World’s richest use up their fair share of 2025 carbon budget in 10 days.
→ The Guardian – 10 January 2025:
World’s richest use up their fair share of 2025 carbon budget in 10 days
“Emissions caused by wealthiest 1% so far this year would take someone from poorest 50% three years to create.”
The article notes:
“In less than a week and a half, the consumption habits of an individual from this monied elite had already caused, on average, 2.1 tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions, according to analysis by Oxfam GB. It would take someone from the poorest 50% of humanity three years to create the same amount of pollution.”
“The richest 1% – about 77 million people, including all those earning more than $140,000 (£114,000) a year – are responsible for more than twice as much carbon pollution each year as the poorest half of humanity.”
“Chiara Liguori, Oxfam GB’s senior climate justice policy adviser, said: ‘The future of our planet is hanging by a thread, yet the super-rich are being allowed to continue to squander humanity’s chances with their lavish lifestyles and polluting investments. Governments need to stop pandering to the richest polluters and instead make them pay their fair share for the havoc they’re wreaking on our planet. Leaders who fail to act are culpable in a crisis that threatens the lives of billions’.”
A snapshot of the state of the world of the environment
on World Environment Day 5 June 2024:
– 426 parts per million C02 in the atmosphere. In 2005 it was 379 parts per million;
– 1 in 4 species on Earth now faces extinction, or 28%;
– 400 million tonnes of plastics produced every year;
– 11 million hectares of forests cut down or burned so far this year. That’s one soccer field every second;
– 75% global land area degraded;
– 2.7°C temperature rise expected with current commitments to cut emissions;
– More than 740 fossil fuel projects approved in Australia under environmental laws since 1999;
– $14.5 billion spending on fossil fuel subsidies in Australia in 2023/24. Globally, it was $7 trillion;
– 4.5 – Number of Earth’s needed if everybody on the planet lived like Australians;
– 30% of the world’s electricity is now generated using renewables;
– 40% of Australia’s electricity is now generated using renewables;
– 28 nations with a Net Zero Carbon target enshrined in law;
– 2.9% of the ocean is fully or highly protected.
We don’t just have a climate crisis. We have an inequality crisis and the climate crisis is a symptom of it.
Climate change is a symptom of the accumulation of wealth and power by a select few. The richest 1% have already burned through their fair share of the 2025 carbon budget in just 10 days – while the poorest 50% would take three years to emit the same amount.
Eight men own more wealth than half the world’s population. This isn’t just an environmental failure; it’s a systemic crisis of exploitation and extraction. The solution isn’t more GDP growth – it’s redistribution, ending imperialist appropriation, and debt cancellation to enable an equitable world that stays within planetary limits.
A just future requires breaking the cycle of overconsumption by the wealthy and ensuring that resources serve people and planet, not endless profit.
→ Oxfam – 10 January 2025:
Richest 1% burn through their entire annual carbon limit in just 10 days
“The world’s richest 1 per cent have burned through their share of the annual global carbon budget – the amount of CO2 that can be added to the atmosphere without pushing the world beyond 1.5°C of warming – within the first 10 days of 2025, new Oxfam analysis reveals.”
Sue Barrett writes in her blogpost: The Growing Chasm of Inequality and the Need for Systems Change
The Economic Policy Institute (EPI), a respected non-partisan think tank, tracks the CEO-to-worker pay ratio with stark clarity. In 2023, their latest analysis pegged the average realised compensation for CEOs at the 350 largest U.S. firms at $22.2 million, while the typical worker in those industries earned about $76,000. That’s a ratio of 290 to 1—a far cry from the 21-to-1 ratio of 1965. But it gets worse. At the extremes, the gaps are mind-boggling. In 2017, Marathon Petroleum’s CEO Gary Heminger took home 935 times the pay of his average employee. Other reports, like those from Inequality.org, highlight firms where CEOs earn over 1,000 times their median worker’s wage—sometimes approaching 2,000 to 1 in outlier cases like fast food and retail giants. Since 1978, CEO pay has skyrocketed by over 1,085%, while typical worker pay has crept up just 24%. Inflation-adjusted, the federal minimum wage has stagnated at $7.25 since 2009, while CEOs rake in stock awards and bonuses tied to a market that’s increasingly rigged in their favour.
The World Out of Control
This isn’t just a U.S. problem—it’s global. The Gini coefficient, a measure of income inequality where 0 is perfect equality and 1 is total disparity, shows the U.S. at 0.434 in 2017, higher than any G-7 nation and creeping toward levels seen in places like India (0.495). Globally, the richest 1% now hold nearly half the world’s wealth, while the bottom half—3.8 billion people—share just 0.4%. Oxfam reports that in 2022, the world’s billionaires saw their wealth grow by $2.7 billion a day, while 1.7 billion workers lived in countries where inflation outpaced wages. The numbers are dizzying, and they point to a world where fairness has been replaced by a winner-takes-all frenzy.
The consequences are everywhere. Workers toil longer for less, with real wages for the bottom 90% barely budging since the 1970s, while the top 0.1% have tripled their share of earnings. In the U.S., the 90/10 income ratio—comparing the top 10% to the bottom 10%—jumped from 9.1 in 1980 to 12.6 in 2018. Wealth gaps are even starker: by 2016, the richest 5% of U.S. families had 248 times the wealth of the second quintile, up from 114 times in 1989. Meanwhile, essentials like housing, healthcare, and education grow out of reach, fuelling resentment and instability. Crime, mental illness, and social unrest rise with inequality, as studies like The Spirit Level have shown. When the system feels this unfair, it’s no wonder trust erodes—governments, corporations, and elites seem to serve only themselves.
How Did We Get Here?
This didn’t happen by accident. The 1960s’ relative fairness came from strong unions, progressive taxes, and regulations that curbed excess. Since the 1980s, those guardrails have been dismantled. Unions have withered—only 10% of U.S. workers are unionised today, down from 35% in the 1950s—sapping workers’ bargaining power. Tax rates on the ultra-rich have plummeted, with the top marginal rate dropping from 70% in 1980 to 37% today, and corporate tax cuts under Trump slashed rates from 35% to 21%. Stock buybacks, once illegal, now funnel billions to executives and shareholders, inflating CEO pay while workers see crumbs. Globalisation and automation play a role, sure, but they’re scapegoats for deliberate choices: weakened labour laws, eroded minimum wages, and a corporate culture that fetishises “shareholder value” over human lives.
Billionaires like Elon Musk and Donald Trump present themselves as outsiders who will fix the system, but in reality, they are exacerbating the very problems they claim to solve. Decades of policies that favour the ultra-wealthy have led us to this crisis, and it is up to us to correct course.