Super-rich’s carbon investment emissions ‘equivalent to whole of France’

Some of the super-rich analysed did attempt to make positive impacts to tackle the climate crisis. Photograph: scphoto/Alamy

The super-rich emit greenhouse gases at a level equivalent to the whole of France from their investments in carbon intensive businesses, according to analysis published on the opening of the Cop27 UN climate talks in Egypt.

Examining the carbon impact of the investments of 125 billionaires, the research found they had a collective $2.4tn stake in 183 companies. On average each billionaire’s investment emissions produced 3m tonnes of CO2 a year; a million times more than the average emissions of 2.76 tonnes of CO2 for those living in the bottom 90% of earners. In total the 125 members of the super-rich emitted 393m tonnes of CO2 a year – equivalent to the emissions of France, which has a population of 67 million.