New report uncovers staggering damage caused by the world's richest individuals: 'Instilling apathy in people'

A study by Oxfam showed how billionaires emit more pollution in 90 minutes than the average person does in a lifetime.

The report tracked the emissions of the world's richest 50 billionaires across luxury travel and investments. For example, Oxfam calculated that two private jets owned by Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos spent roughly 25 days in flight over the course of a year. This equated to as much pollution as the average Amazon employee in the United States would emit in 207 years.

In a similar vein, yachts owned by the Walton family, founders of Walmart, produced as much pollution in one year as around 1,714 Walmart staff. Oxfam remained optimistic about solutions and action. 

"People are forcing governments to confront the carbon emissions of the super-rich, for instance protesting against private jets," Oxfam International news manager Annie Thériault said, per The Register. "Many of the world's richest people are using their position of privilege to advocate that they should be taxed more."

Inequality remains a growing social and environmental problem. Oxfam has been reporting on the damage of inequality for some time, and other studies have reached similar conclusions. The emphasis in this report on oil and gas investments highlights the need for finance reform, such as how Illinois is trying to divest its pensions funds from companies in the sector. Even in the spirit of self-interest, these polluting industries provide consistently unimpressive financial returns. 

Despite the issues presented, Reddit commenters were critical of the latest Oxfam report. 

"[These reports are] useful for instilling apathy in people," one Redditor said. "For getting them to not want to do anything to limit their own consumption, because 'why bother, rich people produce tons of CO2.'"

Another took issue with Oxfam's methodology of using investments as a source of emissions, especially since investments accounted for most of the billionaires' pollution. "If you say Bezos' emissions are through Amazon then you need to subtract the emissions from those people buying s*** from Amazon and attribute the emissions to Bezos," they wrote.

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