America’s super-rich are running down the planet’s safe climate spaces, says Oxfam

October 29, 2025

Jonathan Watt

The US’s super-rich are burning through carbon emissions at 4,000 times the speed of the world’s poorest 10%, according to an analysis provided to the Guardian.

These billionaires and multimillionaires, who comprise the wealthiest 0.1% of the US population, are also running down our planet’s safe climate space at 183 times the rate of the global average.

Almost 60% of billionaire investments are in ‘high climate-impact sectors’, such as mining or oil and gas companies, Oxfam found. Photograph: Jason Whitman/NurPhoto/Shutterstock