the filthy rich

Wealth tax of 0.5% could cover UK’s share of loss and damage fund, says charity

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Image of superyacht Mayan Queen

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/may/12/wealth-tax-of-05-could-cover-uks-share-of-loss-and-damage-fund-says-charity

International fund set up at Cop27 is intended to provide compensation to countries worst hit by climate breakdown

A tax on wealthy Britons of just 0.5% could more than meet the UK’s entire “fair share” contribution to the international loss and damage fund established to support countries worst hit by global climate breakdown, a charity has suggested.

Taxing 5p of every £10 of individuals’ wealth over £1m would raise £15bn a year by 2030, well in excess of an estimated $15bn (£12bn) UK contribution to the new fund, according to an analysis by the anti-poverty campaigners Christian Aid.

The loss and damage fund, established at last year’s Cop27 climate summit in Egypt, is intended to provide compensation for climate-related disasters that are beyond the possibility of adaptation.

Sought by developing countries since 1992, the fund was the most contentious issue at the UN conference, and many of its specifics are yet to be ironed out.

Estimates of its potential cost differ, but the range of $290bn-$580bn a year by 2030 is often cited, with a midpoint of about $400bn, taking into account inflation and rising climate impacts. Christian Aid estimates the UK’s “fair share” of this to be about 3.5%, or $15bn.

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https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/may/12/wealth-tax-of-05-could-cover-uks-share-of-loss-and-damage-fund-says-charity

Continue ReadingWealth tax of 0.5% could cover UK’s share of loss and damage fund, says charity

Time to make the rich pay for climate change

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https://www.energymonitor.ai/policy/just-transition/opinion-time-to-make-the-rich-pay-for-climate-change/

Image: Scientist Rebellion / Twitter

Philippa Nuttall

The richest 10% of citizens are responsible for 50% of global carbon emissions. Taxing private jets would be a good place to start – and raise money for cleaner alternatives.

e tend to say ‘we are all in the same boat’, but frankly we are not. We are all in the same ocean, but not in the same boat.” EU Climate Change Commissioner Frans Timmermans was thinking of vulnerable, low-income countries when he made this remark, but the thrust of his quote also holds true for the division between the richest and the less well off in all countries. While the poorest everywhere are trying to stay afloat, battered by a storm of high energy and food prices and falling real wages for many, the richest continue to hop around in their private jets.

Yes, we must all change our behaviour and drastically reduce our emissions, but in 2023 let’s stop pretending we are all in this together. We need policies that force the very rich to pay for the outsized amount of pollution they cause.

Kevin Anderson, professor at the University of Manchester’s Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research in the UK, and economist Ann Pettifor have been making this case for years. “The green movement has lost its way by making us feel we are all equally responsible for the [climate] crisis,” Pettifor said when I interviewed her in 2021. Both have called for emission reduction efforts to be focused on the world’s wealthiest 10% of individuals, who are responsible for 50% of global carbon emissions – and especially the top 1%. The super rich contribute close to 17% of global emissions.

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https://www.energymonitor.ai/policy/just-transition/opinion-time-to-make-the-rich-pay-for-climate-change/

Continue ReadingTime to make the rich pay for climate change

Ultra-rich private jet travel has soared since the pandemic – and emissions followed

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https://www.energymonitor.ai/policy/ultra-rich-private-jet-travel-has-soared-since-the-pandemic-and-emissions-followed/

The private jet sector has boomed since the start of the pandemic, reveals a report from the progressive think tank Institute for Policy Studies (IPS) and nonpartisan organisation Patriotic Millionaires. While there was a drop in private flights in 2020, the sector picked up quickly again and saw an unprecedented number of 5.3 million business jet operations in 2022.

Compared to 2019, the number of flights globally and in the US increased by around a fifth last year. A 2022 study found that because of the increased flights, private jet emissions have increased by 23%. In the last two decades, the global private jet fleet size increased 133% – from 9,895 in 2000 to 23,122 in mid-2022.

Private jet travel is reserved for the few. The typical private jet owner has a net worth of $190m, according to the report. Since private jets emit at least ten times more than commercial planes per passenger, these ultra-rich private flyers are causing a disproportionate amount of emissions.

Awareness about the environmental costs of private jets has been increasing, putting frequent flyers under scrutiny. Celebrity Kylie Jenner made headlines last summer when she used her private jet for a short hop of just 17 minutes, a trip that would have taken less than an hour by car. A Twitter account tracking private jet flights of celebrities – since suspended, together with a similar account tracking Elon Musk’s flights – showed that this trip was far from unusual for the rich and famous.

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https://www.energymonitor.ai/policy/ultra-rich-private-jet-travel-has-soared-since-the-pandemic-and-emissions-followed/

Continue ReadingUltra-rich private jet travel has soared since the pandemic – and emissions followed

World’s largest asset managers block climate action 

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https://www.energymonitor.ai/finance/sustainable-finance/worlds-largest-asset-managers-block-climate-action-amid-anti-esg-backlash/

Fresh analysis of asset managers’ 2022 proxy voting patterns reveals the world’s largest investors are backsliding on climate-related votes, mainly in the energy sector.

By Polly Bindman

While 2022 was the hottest year on record for a number of countries globally, the world’s largest asset managers’ progress on climate action has cooled. 

Investors filed a record number of shareholder resolutions relating to environmental and social issues during 2022’s proxy season. However, new analysis by non-profit ShareAction of how US, UK and European asset managers voted on these resolutions reveals that those with the biggest influence worked to block a number of key climate votes last year. 

The overall share of support across surveyed investors for environmental or social resolutions (filed mainly in the US, with a handful from other countries) increased from 60% in 2021 to 66% last year, but this was mainly down to a surge of supportive votes from asset managers in Europe, where sustainability disclosures are tightening.

Overall, the total number of supportive votes from US and UK investors barely changed between 2021 and 2022. Worryingly, the data reveals how the world’s four largest asset managers – BlackRock, State Street Global Advisors, Vanguard Group and Fidelity Investments – have worked to block key climate votes going through. 

This is particularly notable within the energy sector, where the world’s largest asset manager, BlackRock, went from supporting 72% of such votes in 2021 to just 16% in 2022.

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https://www.energymonitor.ai/finance/sustainable-finance/worlds-largest-asset-managers-block-climate-action-amid-anti-esg-backlash/

Continue ReadingWorld’s largest asset managers block climate action