As the EU scales back its climate ambition, new Oxfam research reveals the stark carbon inequality in the EU: Europe’s wealthiest are increasing their emissions, while ordinary Europeans have made the biggest cuts. 

The report highlights three key findings: 

• Europe’s wealthiest are burning through our climate budget: the richest 10% of Europeans produce as much carbon as the bottom 50% combined.
• Carbon cuts are driven by ordinary Europeans, while Europe’s elite keep polluting: emissions have fallen. The bottom 50% of Europeans reduced their emissions by 27%, while the richest 0.1% increased theirs by 14%.
• To stay on the 1.5°C pathway, the EU must tackle the excessive emissions of Europe’s richest: everyone must cut their emissions, but the richest must go much further. The research shows that, to stay within the 1.5°C limit, the bottom 50% would need to cut their emissions in half, the top 10% by 90%, the top 1% by 97%, and the top 0.1% by 99%. 

2024 was the first year that average global temperatures exceeded 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels. Yet, since the European elections, the EU has scaled back its climate ambitions, failing to submit its climate plan before the COP30 deadline and watering down climate legislation in the name of simplification. Oxfam calls on the EU to ramp up its ambition for emission reduction, with measures aimed at Europe’s wealthiest, to avoid a climate catastrophe and reduce climate inequality.

Report by Oxfam