Jeff Bezos’s superyacht ‘Koru’ often travels accompanied by a smaller ‘support’ superyacht. Image by Conmat13 under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license via wikimedia.
In response to the UNEP Emissions Gap Report published 4th November 2025, Nafkote Dabi, Climate Policy Lead at Oxfam, said:
“Just days before global leaders arrive in Brazil for COP30, this report is a blaring siren calling for greater climate action.
“Since the Paris Agreement, the richest 1% have used up more than twice the carbon budget of the poorest half of humanity. This inequality is more than unjust—it’s deadly. The extreme emissions of the richest people and countries are burning through the little remaining the amount of CO2 that can be emitted while avoiding climate disaster. Meanwhile, the poorest communities suffer the most devastating impacts.
“Governments cannot close the emissions gap without slashing the carbon footprint of the super-rich and addressing extreme inequality. COP30 must be a turning point. Global leaders must cut the emissions of the richest, tax rich polluters and their profits, and deliver a just transition—one that creates decent green jobs, builds resilient economies, and puts people and planet before profit.”
Image of a private jet by Andrew Thomas from Shrewsbury, UK.
Oxfam’s recent report, “Climate Plunder: How a powerful few are locking the world into disaster”, presents new data which finds that a person from the richest 0.1% produces more carbon pollution in a day than the poorest 50% emit all year. If everyone emitted like the richest 0.1%, the carbon budget would be used up in less than 3 weeks.
The “UN Emissions Gap report: Off Target” finds that global warming projections over this century, based on full implementation of updated government climate pledges, are 2.3-2.5°C, while those based on current policies are 2.8°C.
Elon Musk urges you to be a Fascist like him, says that you can ignore facts and reality then.Donald Trump urges you to be a Climate Science denier like him. He says that he makes millions and millions for destroying the planet, Burn, Baby, Burn and Flood, Baby, Flood.Nigel Farage urges you to ignore facts and reality and be a climate science denier like him and his Deputy Richard Tice. He says that Reform UK has received £Millions and £Millions from the fossil fuel industry to promote climate denial and destroy the planet.
Image of a private jet by Andrew Thomas from Shrewsbury, UK.
Billionaire investments in polluting industries such as fossil fuels and cement double the average for the Standard and Poor group of 500 companies – Oxfam
The investments of just 125 billionaires emit 393 million tonnes of CO2 each year – the equivalent of France – at an individual annual average that is a million times higher than someone in the bottom 90 percent of humanity.
Carbon Billionaires: The investment emissions of the world’s richest people, is a report published by Oxfam based on a detailed analysis of the investments of 125 of the richest billionaires in some of the world’s biggest corporates and the carbon emissions of these investments. These billionaires have a collective $2.4 trillion stake in 183 companies.
The report finds that these billionaires’ investments give an annual average of 3m tonnes of CO2e per person, which is a million times higher than 2.76 tonnes of CO2e which is the average for those living in the bottom 90 percent.
The actual figure is likely to be higher still, as published carbon emissions by corporates have been shown to systematically underestimate the true level of carbon impact, and billionaires and corporates who do not publicly reveal their emissions, so could not be included in the research, are likely to be those with a high climate impact.
“These few billionaires together have ‘investment emissions’ that equal the carbon footprints of entire countries like France, Egypt or Argentina,” said Nafkote Dabi, Climate Change Lead at Oxfam “The major and growing responsibility of wealthy people for overall emissions is rarely discussed or considered in climate policy making. This has to change. These billionaire investors at the top of the corporate pyramid have huge responsibility for driving climate breakdown. They have escaped accountability for too long,” said Dabi.
Jeff Bezos’s superyacht ‘Koru’ often travels accompanied by a smaller ‘support’ superyacht. Image by Conmat13 under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license via wikimedia.
“Emissions from billionaire lifestyles, their private jets and yachts are thousands of times the average person, which is already completely unacceptable. But if we look at emissions from their investments, then their carbon emissions are over a million times higher,” said Dabi.
Contrary to average people, studies show the world’s wealthiest individuals’ investments account for up to 70 percent of their emissions. Oxfam has used public data to calculate the “investment emissions” of billionaires with over 10 percent stakes in a corporation, by allocating them a share of the reported emissions of the corporates in which they are invested in proportion to their stake.
The study also found billionaires had an average of 14 percent of their investments in polluting industries such as energy and materials like cement. This is twice the average for investments in the Standard and Poor 500. Only one billionaire in the sample had investments in a renewable energy company.
The choice of investments billionaires make is shaping the future of our economy, for example, by backing high carbon infrastructure – locking in high emissions for decades to come. The study found that if the billionaires in the sample moved their investments to a fund with stronger environmental and social standards, it could reduce the intensity of their emissions by up to four times.
“The super-rich need to be taxed and regulated away from polluting investments that are destroying the planet. Governments must put also in place ambitious regulations and policies that compel corporations to be more accountable and transparent in reporting and radically reducing their emissions,” said Dabi.
Oxfam has estimated that a wealth tax on the world’s super-rich could raise $1.4 trillion a year, vital resources that could help developing countries – those worst hit by the climate crisis – to adapt, address loss and damage and carry out a just transition to renewable energy. According to the UNEP adaptation costs for developing countries could rise to $300 billion per year by 2030. Africa alone will require $600 billion between 2020 to 2030. Oxfam is also calling for steeply higher tax rates for investments in polluting industries to deter such investments.
The report says that many corporations are off track in setting their climate transition plans, including hiding behind unrealistic and unreliable decarbonization plans with the promise of attaining net zero targets only by 2050. Fewer than one in three of the 183 corporates reviewed by Oxfam are working with the Science Based Targets Initiative. Only 16 percent have set net zero targets.
Donald Trump urges you to be a Climate Science denier like him. He says that he makes millions and millions for destroying the planet, Burn, Baby, Burn and Flood, Baby, Flood.Nigel Farage urges you to ignore facts and reality and be a climate science denier like him and his Deputy Richard Tice. He says that Reform UK has received £Millions and £Millions from the fossil fuel industry to promote climate denial and destroy the planet.Keir Starmer commits to play the caretaker role for Capitalism through the “hard times”.
Mark Zuckerberg, Lauren Sanchez, Jeff Bezos, Sundar Pichai and Elon Musk at Trump’s inauguration ceremony on 20 January 2025. Photograph: Saul Loeb/AFP/Getty Images
Oxfam warns Trump policies risk driving inequality to new heights – but Democrats have also exacerbated wealth gap
The collective wealth of the top 10 US billionaires has soared by $698bn in the past year, according to a new report from Oxfam America published on Monday on the growing wealth divide.
The report warns that Trump administration policies risk driving US inequality to new heights, but points out that both Republican and Democratic administrations have exacerbated the US’s growing wealth gap.
Using Federal Reserve data from 1989 to 2022, researchers also calculated that the top 1% of households gained 101 times more wealth than the median household during that time span and 987 times the wealth of a household at the bottom 20th percentile of income. This translated to a gain of $8.35m per household for the top 1% of households, compared with $83,000 for the average household during that 33-year period.
Meanwhile, over 40% of the US population, including nearly 50% of children, are considered low-income, with family earnings that are less than 200% of the national poverty line.
When pitting the US against 38 other higher-income countries in the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), the US has the highest rate of relative poverty, second-highest rate of child poverty and infant mortality, and the second-lowest life expectancy rate.
Donald Fuhrump says that Amerikkka doesn’t bother with crimes or charges anymore, not being 100% Amerikkkan and opposing his real estate intentions is enough.Orcas discuss how Trump was re-elected and him being an obviously insane, xenophobic Fascist.
A family salvages belongings from their home after it collapsed during Hurricane Melissa’s passage through Santiago de Cuba, Cuba on October 29, 2025. (Photo by Yamil Lage/AFP via Getty Images)
“The very richest individuals in the world are funding and profiting from climate destruction, leaving the global majority to bear the fatal consequences of their unchecked power.”
A report released Tuesday showed that the wealthiest people on the planet are disproportionately fueling the climate emergency that is intensifying weather catastrophes like Hurricane Melissa, which slammed Cuba on Wednesday after leaving a trail of devastation in Jamaica.
The Oxfam International report, titled Climate Plunder: How a Powerful Few Are Locking the World Into Disaster, features updated figures showing that the consumption-based carbon emissions of the richest 0.1% of the global population grew by 92 tonnes between 1990 and 2023, while the emissions of the poorest half of humanity grew by just 0.1 tonnes.
“A person from the world’s richest 0.1% emits over 800kg of CO2 every day. Even the strongest person on earth could not lift this much,” the report notes. “In contrast, someone from the poorest 50% of the world emits an average of just 2kg of CO2 per day, which even a small child could lift.”
“A person in the top 0.1% emits more in a day than a person in the poorest 50% emits all year,” the report adds.
The destruction caused by Hurricane Melissa—the most powerful storm on Earth this year and the strongest to ever hit Jamaica—underscored the extent to which vulnerable nations are bearing the brunt of a crisis they did little to cause as wealthy countries and individuals continue to spew planet-warming emissions with abandon.
Jamaica, where the true extent of the damage from Melissa is only just beginning to emerge, is responsible for an estimated 0.02% of global greenhouse gas emissions, according to the latest available data.
“The climate crisis is an inequality crisis,” said Oxfam executive director Amitabh Behar. “The very richest individuals in the world are funding and profiting from climate destruction, leaving the global majority to bear the fatal consequences of their unchecked power.”
“We must break the chokehold of the super-rich over climate policy by taxing their extreme wealth.”
Oxfam’s report was published less than two weeks before the start of COP30 in Belém, Brazil, where world leaders will gather once again to weigh climate solutions after years of failing to reach an agreement to curb fossil fuel production and use.
In its new report, Oxfam implores governments to target the emissions of the ultra-wealthy, including through “climate-specific taxes” such as “frequent flyer levies and taxes on luxury travel.”
“It is a travesty that power and wealth have been allowed to accumulate in the hands of a few, who are only using it to further entrench their influence and lock us all into a path to planetary destruction,” said Behar. “We must break the chokehold of the super-rich over climate policy by taxing their extreme wealth, banning their lobbying, and instead put those most affected by the climate crisis in the front seat of climate decision-making.”
Donald Trump urges you to be a Climate Science denier like him. He says that he makes millions and millions for destroying the planet, Burn, Baby, Burn and Flood, Baby, Flood.Nigel Farage urges you to ignore facts and reality and be a climate science denier like him and his Deputy Richard Tice. He says that Reform UK has received £Millions and £Millions from the fossil fuel industry to promote climate denial and destroy the planet.Elon Musk urges you to be a Fascist like him, says that you can ignore facts and reality then.
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Gustavo Petro, Colombia’s president, during the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) in New York, US, on Tuesday, Sept. 23, 2025. [Photographer: Michael Nagle/Bloomberg via Getty Images]
In one of the most daring and controversial political interventions to echo through the halls of the United Nations in decades, Colombian President Gustavo Petro, in his address to the UN General Assembly on 23 September 2025, called for the creation of an international army that transcends the traditional balance of power and whose first mission would be the liberation of Palestine from Israeli occupation and the cessation of the ongoing genocide in Gaza.
The speech drew widespread global attention, opening the door to a complex debate on the future of the international order, the limits of international law, and the possibility of a fundamental transformation toward a new architecture of international relations that moves beyond bipolarity and the centrality of U.S. power.
Petro: The end of words and the beginning of action
In his speech, President Gustavo Petro sharply criticised the current international order, asserting that a world dominated by a single power and complicit in genocide cannot credibly claim to defend democracy or human rights. He emphasised that statements and declarations are no longer sufficient amid the mass killings in Gaza, calling for the creation of an international armed force composed of states that reject genocide, tasked with protecting threatened populations and enforcing international justice. Petro declared: “We need a strong army of nations that do not accept genocide… We must gather weapons and armies. We must liberate Palestine.”
Invoking Simón Bolívar, he added: “We are tired of words… It is time for the sword of liberty or death.”
In later remarks posted on X (formerly Twitter), Petro announced plans to submit a draft resolution to the UN General Assembly to establish a “global army for justice,” with its first mission focused on liberating Palestine,” marking a dramatic call for action over [sic]
Petro’s proposal marks a significant shift in international political discourse. Since the UN’s founding in 1945, international forces have primarily focused on post-conflict peacekeeping, operating under limited mandates and with Security Council approval. Petro, however, envisions a force designed not to maintain the status quo but to actively change it, intervening militarily to prevent genocide and end occupation. This transition from neutrality to action challenges core principles of international law, including state sovereignty and non-intervention, while contesting the Security Council’s monopoly, particularly its five permanent members, over the authorised use of force. Petro suggested that such a force could be established through the General Assembly, referencing the 1950 “Uniting for Peace” resolution, when the Assembly bypassed a deadlocked Security Council to authorize military intervention in Korea, setting a precedent for acting when conventional mechanisms fail.
Enormous political and legal obstacles
Despite Petro’s bold proposal, formidable obstacles make its near-term realization highly unlikely. The UN’s legal framework restricts the use of force to the Security Council, where the US holds veto power and would never allow the creation of a force that could act against Israel, its key Middle Eastern ally. Geopolitical realities also hinder the formation of a global coalition outside the Western security umbrella. Even countries critical of Israeli policies, including EU members and Global South states, may resist joining a force that risks direct confrontation with Israel or the U.S Additionally, there is a significant lack of collective political will: while smaller and medium-sized states often use strong rhetoric, turning such words into military action demands a consensus that is currently absent. Past struggles to reform the Security Council or establish war crimes tribunals underscore how difficult it is to translate ambitious ideas into action within today’s entrenched power structures.
The significance and timing of Petro’s speech
Despite significant practical obstacles, Petro’s speech carries profound symbolic and political weight in shaping global discourse on Palestine and the international order. He reframes the Palestinian issue from a mere “conflict” to an act of “genocide,” shifting the debate from political negotiation to one centered on liberation and international justice. His references to “Bolívar’s sword” and an “army of justice” seek to place Palestine at the core of a broader struggle against double standards and for global legitimacy.
Moreover, Petro’s call sparks renewed debate on reforming the United Nations. Beyond advocating for a force dedicated to Palestine, he highlights the failure of the current system to prevent genocides in Rwanda, Syria, Myanmar, and now Gaza. The proposed army thus symbolizes a deeper demand for rebuilding the international order on fairer, more pluralistic foundations.
Finally, the speech underscores a shift within the Global South. From Colombia to South Africa and Brazil, states on the geopolitical periphery are increasingly using the UN stage to challenge the Global North’s dominance and redefine concepts of legitimacy. Petro’s message aligns with this momentum, adding new strategic depth to the Palestinian cause within emerging international alliances.
President Petro’s speech comes at a critical moment, as Gaza endures one of the most brutal Israeli military campaigns since the Nakba. UN agencies and human rights organizations, including OCHA, Oxfam, and Human Rights Watch, report the killing of tens of thousands of civilians and the widespread destruction of vital infrastructure, including hospitals, schools, and relief centers. The UN has also documented the deaths of hundreds of humanitarian workers, in what international organizations describe as the largest targeting of the humanitarian sector in modern conflict.
In this context, Petro’s speech becomes more than a theoretical proposal, it is a cry against a world that remains silent in the face of genocide. His call to form an “army of justice” is, at its core, an expression of the failure of the international system to fulfill its most fundamental duty: protecting civilians and enforcing international law.
And while the idea may be unattainable at present, it exposes the glaring gap between the UN’s rhetoric and its reality, opening the door to rethinking the mechanisms of collective international action.
Conclusion
President Petro’s project to form an international army to liberate Palestine may seem, in the realpolitik balance, a utopian dream difficult to achieve amid current power dynamics. Yet, in the realm of symbolic and strategic politics, it reflects a profound shift in how international justice, Palestine, and the global order itself are conceived.
The speech will not change the world tomorrow, but it could mark a turning point in a longer trajectory toward reshaping international institutions so that they are capable of confronting genocide and injustice. And just as Simón Bolívar’s words once ignited the liberation of entire continents, President Petro’s speech may, even if only in the long run, be the spark that drives the world to contemplate a global army for justice, one whose first mission would begin in Gaza, if Gaza, as we know it, still exists.
The views expressed in this article belong to the author and do not necessarily reflect the editorial policy of Middle East Monitor.
Genocide denier and Current UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer is quoted that he supports Zionism without qualification. He also confirms that UK air force support has been essential in Israel’s mass-murdering genocide. Includes URLs https://www.declassifieduk.org/keir-starmers-100-spy-flights-over-gaza-in-support-of-israel/ and https://youtu.be/O74hZCKKdpAKeir Starmer objects to criticism of the IDF. He asks how could anyone object to them starving people to death, forced marches like the Nazis did, bombing Gaza’s hospitals and universities, mass-murdering journalists, healthworkers and starving people queuing for food, killing and raping prisoners and murdering children. He calls for people to stop obstructing his genocide for Israel.Vote Labour for Genocide.
