Sacrificing Global citizens @ the Altar of the Capitalist Greed

A damning new report from Oxfam calls for a European wealth tax as the contribution of the EU’s richest to the climate crisis is laid bare. The richest 10% in the EU are responsible for as much carbon pollution as the poorest 50%, a new report reveals.

Their increasingly luxurious lifestyles and escalating opulence are wreaking havoc on our planet, says Oxfam EU tax expert Chiara Putaturo.

Meanwhile ordinary people are burdened with rising costs and the dire consequences of heatwaves, floods, and landslides caused by human greed.

These outsized emissions of Europe’s richest will cause 67,800 heat-related excess deaths by 2100, the equivalent of almost 850 deaths every year.

The charity is calling for a European wealth tax to raise nearly €250 billion a year which could be used to reduce pollution and inequality.

Through the European Green Deal the EU has set out ambitious climate targets, but question marks still remain over the financing of its implementation. We need a European wealth tax. Economists want it, multi-millionaires want it and people want it.

The report also outlines the stark global inequalities fueling the climate crisis.

The richest 1% of the world’s population, which includes billionaires, millionaires and those making above $140,000 (€128,172), produced as much carbon pollution in 2019 as the five billion people who made up the poorest two-thirds of humanity.

It argues that we need a radical new approach if we are to stand any chance at overcoming the catastrophe unfolding before us.

In a foreword to the new report Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg condemns the richest 1% for sacrificing us at the altar of their greed.

The people most responsible for the climate crisis – mainly white, privileged men – are also the ones who have been given a leading role in getting us out of it. How have we left the culprits in charge when there is so much at stake?

Oxfam is calling on governments to dramatically reduce inequality by a global redistribution of income in the form of a wealth tax.

It also calls for a quick and just transition away from fossil fuels and a change in mindset that prioritize the well-being of humans and the planet over endless profit and consumption.

Green EuroNews / ABC Flash Point News 2023.