Richest 0.1% of Australians produce 31 times more carbon pollution than poorest half of the population

• The richest 26,000 Australians (0.1%) produced over three times more carbon pollution than the entire populations of Australia’s largest cities; Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane combined.

• In just over a year (428.3 days), someone from Australia’s richest 0.1% emits more CO2 than someone in the poorest half has emitted over the last 30 years

• Australia’s private jets emitted more CO2 in just over an hour (74.1 minutes) than the average person in Australia will emit in an entire year. The emissions from these private jet flights were equal to the total yearly emissions of 84,000 Nepalis combined.

The richest 0.1% of Australia, numbering just 26,000 people, produce more carbon pollution than 13 million people earning the lowest incomes combined, new Oxfam analysis reveals.

Published ahead of the UN climate summit (COP31) in Türkiye, Oxfam’s new Disaster Divide report exposes how the super-rich are driving climate breakdown through their outsized emissions, while profiting from the destruction. The report found that the world’s richest 0.1% contributed nearly 400 times more to today’s extreme heatwaves than someone in the poorest 50%, and that the richest 1% will cause $82 trillion in damage by 2050.

Four Australian companies; BHP Group, Santos, Whitehaven Coal, and Woodside Energy appear in Oxfam’s Destroy & Rebuild Index, meaning they join 217 global corporations that profit from climate breakdown as well as disaster preparedness, recovery and reconstruction.

In 2024-25, Australian fossil fuel companies recorded revenues of $467 billion in 2024-25, paying just 3 cents on every dollar of revenue in corporate income tax. Meanwhile, a registered nurse paid 24 cents for every dollar of their wages – eight times more than the average fossil fuel company.

“How is it fair that Australian fossil fuel companies pay just 3% of their revenue in income tax, while your average Australian pays 8 times that, and communities that did little to cause the climate crisis pay with their homes, harvests and lives when floods, fires and famine hit? This is not a tragedy of shared fate; it is a consequence of extreme inequality.

“It is time for the Australian government to make big polluters pay for their climate damages. Australia should seize its opportunity to lead that conversation as President of the COP31 climate talks in November,” said Oxfam Australia’s Chief Executive, Jennifer Tierney.

Globally, just one year of the world’s richest 1%’s emissions will cause 1.9 million excess heat-related deaths. 78% of these deaths will occur in low and lower-middle-income countries, despite these countries being responsible for only 8% of global emissions.

By 2050, as many as 1 billion people (around 10% of the world’s population) could be displaced by the climate crisis. Most of those displaced will be in low-income countries.

“The ultra-rich are setting the planet on fire and then charging the rest of us for the extinguishers. They profit from pollution. They profit from the disaster. And they profit again from the clean-up,” said Ms Tierney.

Oxfam is calling on governments meeting at COP31 in Türkiye to:

• Make Big Polluters Pay for their climate pollution and rapidly curb their carbon emissions. This should be done by introducing a tax on extreme wealth; a Climate Pollution Levy on coal, oil and gas corporations; a gas export tax; supporting the establishment of a strong UN Convention; ending all coal, oil and gas project approvals; and ending fossil fuels subsidies for big corporations.

• Substantially increase Australia’s international climate finance contributions, with a commitment of at least $11 billion between 2026-2030 towards the new global climate finance goal to be announced at COP31. This should be public and grant-based funding, not loans that deepen debt. The funding for climate adaptation should be tripled by 2035.

• Adopt a fair-share approach to the remaining carbon budget. As a wealthy country with high levels of climate pollution, Australia should reduce its pollution by at least 75% by 2035.

• Strengthen the participation of civil society, local communities and Indigenous groups in climate negotiations and address the unequal impacts of climate change.