The world’s top twelve billionaires emit emissions equivalent to 2.1 million homes, through the use of private transport and financial investments. 

According to an investigation by Oxfam published by the Guardian, some 17 million tones of CO2 emissions are emitted from the properties, private yachts, and combined shareholdings of tycoons including the likes of Amazon chief Jeff Bezos, former Chelsea Football Club owner Roman Abramovich, former Google tycoons Larry Page and Eric Schmidt, philanthropist Bill Gates and Elon Musk, owner of social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter.  

A superyacht kept on permanent standby generates about 7,000 tonnes of CO2 a year, according to the analysis. 

Estimates were conducted by Oxfam analysts working with two US academics, Beatriz Barros and Richard Wilk, who used publicly available data to calculate the greenhouse gas impacts. 

“The emissions of the superyachts are way above anything else,” Wilk told the Guardian.  

“They have to have a crew, and they have to be constantly maintained even when they are docked. Then you have the helicopters onboard, the jetskis, the high energy-using luxury items like pools, hot tubs, private submarines and tenders, all of these require power, the air conditioning, the sophisticated electronic items. It is like having a hotel running on the water all the time.” 

Carbon footprints of superyachts owned by five of the wealthiest exceed those of the private jets owned by 10 of the 12 billionaires. 

Mexican businessman Carlos Slim, the 12th richest man in the world and former part owner of the New York Times, emits 7 million tonnes of CO2, more than any other billionaire. Gates follows closely behind with just over 6 million.  

A spokesperson for Gates told the Guardian that he had taken steps to reduce his impact on the environment, ranging from using electric cars and solar panels to buying sustainable aviation fuel. 

“Bill will continue to invest billions of his own resources into clean energy and climate change innovations to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and help make these technologies more affordable. Additionally, any returns on these investments will go back into fighting climate change and supporting the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to help as many people as possible around the world,” the spokesperson said. 

Shafi Musaddique is a news editor at Alliance magazine.  

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