Superyachts, private jets, luxury mansions, and financial investments owned by just 12 of the world’s wealthiest individuals are responsible for annual energy emissions equivalent to those produced by 2.1 million homes. This is the claim of a new report by Oxfam and two U.S. researchers, first reported by The Guardian.
Oxfam worked with researchers Beatriz Barros and Richard Wilk, using publicly available data to estimate the total emissions from billionaires’ luxury assets and real estate. By analyzing the dimensions of their superyachts, for instance, the researchers calculated staggering carbon footprints generated by these dozen ultra-rich individuals. Among them are Tesla and X owner Elon Musk, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich, and Mexican investor Carlos Slim.
“Superyachts produce far more emissions than anything else,” said Wilk in the report. “They require crews, they must be maintained even when docked. Then there are helicopters, jet skis, and energy-intensive luxuries like swimming pools, hot tubs, private submarines, and tenders. All of these demand electricity, air conditioning, and advanced electronics. It’s like running a floating hotel at all times.”
Billionaire Lifestyles
Take Bezos’s $500 million megayacht, for example—the world’s largest sailing yacht at 127 meters long, which took three years to build. Based on its size and operations, researchers estimated it emits 7,154 tons of carbon annually.
Other billionaires included in this “dirty dozen” are tech figures such as former Microsoft director Bill Gates, former Google director Larry Page, Dell Technologies founder Michael Dell, Google’s Sergey Brin and Eric Schmidt, LVMH’s Bernard Arnault, Oracle’s Larry Ellison, and entrepreneur Laurene Powell Jobs.
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Beyond yachts and jets, the report found that investments and stock holdings owned by these billionaires are linked to nearly 17 million tons of carbon dioxide emissions each year—the equivalent of running 4.6 coal-fired power plants.
The financial footprint of each billionaire was estimated based on corporate disclosures of direct and indirect emissions. The researchers also looked at a wider sample of 125 billionaires, finding that, on average, their investment-related emissions were one million times higher than those of 90% of the world’s population.
Some Claim They’re Changing
A spokesperson for Gates said he has shifted to greener transport, such as electric cars and sustainable aviation fuel. The spokesperson added that since 2019, Gates has been divesting from direct holdings in oil and gas companies “because he does not want to profit from them as the world transitions to clean energy.”
“Bill will continue to invest billions of his resources in clean energy and climate innovation to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and help make these technologies more affordable,” the spokesperson told The Independent via email. “In addition, any profits from these investments will go toward fighting climate change and supporting the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to help as many people as possible worldwide.”
Others on the list have used parts of their wealth to establish foundations or announce climate commitments through their companies. Bezos, for example, founded the $10 billion Earth Fund to be distributed as grants “to tackle climate and nature.” (Sulung Prasetyo)
