Oxfam's Destroy and Rebuild Index: 'Wealthy minority of investors benefit from both sides of crisis'

Now they make up just 1% of our global population, but they emit as much carbon as two-thirds of all the people in the world. The richest 8 million people, that is, have more emissions than the bottom 3.5 billion. What's more, they're making money off the crisis, both from investments in the polluting industries, but also profiting from disaster and sky-high food prices and through their investment in the adaptation economy. The market for recovery and disaster preparedness is expected to grow to $92 billion before the end of this decade. Well, Oxfam has just released their latest report on the issue and Climate Inequality Advocacy Officer at Oxfam, Fran Selma, who joins us now. Thanks so much for your time. Can I start by asking you, who are these culprits? Who are the corporates that are benefiting from the disaster recovery? Thank you very much for your time and for your discovery. Thank you very much for your time and for your discovery. Actually, so Oxfam, we have created an index that we call the Destroy and Rebuild Index, where we have 217 corporations. It's important to note, some of them are in the polluting industry, so it will be a company, for example, in the fossil fuel industry. Here in France, we can speak about, we can feel... Think about Total Energy, but it can be ExxonMobil or all of these companies. And then you have other companies that are in the rebuilding activities. Because when there is an area that has been completely burned or flooded, you have to rebuild houses. And so it will be all of these companies that are rebuilding. It will be also a company that will provide cooling services, for example, when there is a heat wave. And what's really interesting with this index is The corporation, but also the people behind the corporation, what we show is that you will have wealthy individuals, investors, who are not only investing in the first kind of categories that are burning the planet, but also at the same time, the same people investing in the company that are. Actually benefiting or like reconstructing. So they are burning the planet, benefiting from it, but they're also benefiting from rebuilding. And for us, that's what's really interesting. It's like the people, the investor, a wealthy minority who is actually benefited from both of it. Indeed, getting this double dividend, if you like. So it's really all about the money. But if that is the problem, I mean, where do we go about finding a solution? Where we go by finding a solution, what we say in Oxfam is that we need to tax the money being made and then... Investing in solutions that are protecting the people. The idea is to really curb the emissions of the richest individuals, because we are now speaking about their investment emissions. But there is also all the emissions with their lifestyle. So we are, for example, saying that we should tax private jets. It's not normal that the fuel of a private jet is less taxed than the fuel that you put in your car to go to work. So there's all of this about the emission on the lifestyle, but then we also say we need to actually curb the wealth and because what we've seen the report is that Climate inequality climate disaster is actually linked with economic inequality. So when you fight one you fight the other one So we have what we say is that fighting a extreme Thank Concentration of wealth is actually helping to fight the climate crisis. So that's why we are saying we should tax all of this money and then reinvesting to protect the people that are the most vulnerable, who needs to be protected. That's one thing. And then also it's important to note that this report you. is being launched just before COP 31. So in actually next week, COP 31 is starting in Turkey and Oxfam will be on the ground and present to ask government to act. and to cut polluter's tax, but also to help raise revenue for countries that are the more affected. And this is through international climate finance, so we are asking governments, especially from the industrialized and developed countries, to put money on the table to help developing countries and help communities. This isn't a new request though, I mean we've been asking this for decades and showing the need for it. You know, when do you think governments will... Switch on to action on this issue. Thank you. Hopefully soon, hopefully at COP31. I think the last year has been terrible for climate. Like we have seen climate crisis happening live here in France, for example, we've seen fires, but then we can also think about flooding in Nepal, in Turkey also at the moment. So hopefully this will be a wake-up call that we should do something. And what we try to do with this report is to show that Climate crisis that is presented as a shared challenge is actually not very shared in terms of responsibility. There is nothing shared when you look at the responsibilities. There is also nothing shared when you look at the impact. The people who pollute the more are the ones who are impacted, the less or the more protected. So hopefully all of this situation will be a wake-up call for government and that's what we will fight for. We have arrived at a time where the concentration of wealth is so high and the climate impacts are also very concentrated but on the other part of the population. So we hope that this will change very soon. And given that we're based in France, I mean, where do you think France stands on this issue? Is it, you know, willing to hear this side or more reluctant? France is a very specific case because on the one side, they show and they say they're very proactive and they are ready to implement a tax on fossil fuels. For example, they have created a Global Solidarity Levy Task Force where they try to convince countries to come together and to implement taxes on fossil fuels. But at the same time, France is very protective. Total Energy, which is the national fossil fuel company. So we see them playing a bit of a game between the two. And we hope that this will change and that they will take commitment and action, especially at COP31, which is just around the corner, to actually implement a taxation on fossil fuel. We know that at the European level, you have six countries who have asked to have a tax on fossil fuel. That's pretty cool. Germany, Poland, Spain, Portugal, Italy. But France is not one of them. So it's difficult to say, but we hope that they are going into the right direction, and that's what we ask for the French government. In any case, that report making it very clear the inequality and the unfairness of that battle with climate change and who is making the money out of it. Selma Hubert, thanks so much for coming in to speak to us on France 24. Really, very much a pleasure.