Media Releases

Biofuel Obligation bill scrapped by Government

February 8, 2023

In reaction to the recent announcement that the Sustainable Biofuels Obligation Bill has been dropped by the Government Nicky Henry, Climate Justice Lead at Oxfam Aotearoa said:

“Oxfam is delighted that the government listened to the advice and scientific evidence that biofuels mandates are harmful as they take food and land away from people.

“This is a win for us all, but especially for the farmers, families, and communities we work with across the Pacific and beyond. We know that there are better ways we can reduce emissions and we look forward to seeing the government step up in other areas. Oxfam calls the government to urgently invest in better public transport, electric cars, and to price agriculture emissions properly.”

/ENDS

Notes:

The bill was before the Environment Select Committee who heard oral submissions about it on 1 February 2023. Citizen-powered environmental and global justice groups including Don’t Burn Our Future, Oxfam Aotearoa, 350.org, Environment and Conservation Organisations Aotearoa, Climate Justice Taranaki, the National Women’s Council and the Vegan Society opposed this bill in their submissions. Fossil fuel companies including BP, Mobil and Gull were supportive of it.

Richest 1% bag nearly twice as much wealth as the rest of the world put together over the past two years

January 17, 2023

Super-rich outstrip their extraordinary grab of half of all new wealth in past decade.
Billionaire fortunes are increasing by US$2.7 billion (NZ$4.2 billion) a day even as at least 1.7 billion workers now live in countries where inflation is outpacing wages.
A tax of up to 5 percent on the world’s multi-millionaires and billionaires could raise US$1.7 trillion a year, enough to lift 2 billion people out of poverty.

The richest 1 percent grabbed nearly two-thirds of all new wealth worth US$42 trillion created since 2020, almost twice as much money as the bottom 99 percent of the world’s population, reveals a new Oxfam report today. During the past decade, the richest 1 percent had captured around half of all new wealth.

“Survival of the Richest” is published on the opening day of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. Elites are gathering in the Swiss ski resort as extreme wealth and extreme poverty have increased simultaneously for the first time in 25 years.

“While ordinary people are making daily sacrifices on essentials like food, the super-rich have outdone even their wildest dreams. Just two years in, this decade is shaping up to be the best yet for billionaires —a roaring ‘20s boom for the world’s richest,” said Gabriela Bucher, Executive Director of Oxfam International.

“Taxing the super-rich and big corporations is the door out of today’s overlapping crises. It’s time we demolish the convenient myth that tax cuts for the richest result in their wealth somehow ‘trickling down’ to everyone else. Forty years of tax cuts for the super-rich have shown that a rising tide doesn’t lift all ships —just the superyachts.”

Billionaires have seen extraordinary increases in their wealth. During the pandemic and cost-of-living crisis years since 2020, US$26 trillion (63 percent) of all new wealth was captured by the richest 1 percent, while US$16 trillion (37 percent) went to the rest of the world put together. A billionaire gained roughly US$1.7 million for every US$1 of new global wealth earned by a person in the bottom 90 percent. Billionaire fortunes have increased by US$2.7 billion a day. This comes on top of a decade of historic gains —the number and wealth of billionaires having doubled over the last ten years.

Billionaire wealth surged in 2022 with rapidly rising food and energy profits. The report shows that 95 food and energy corporations have more than doubled their profits in 2022. They made US$306 billion in windfall profits, and paid out US$257 billion (84 percent) of that to rich shareholders. The Walton dynasty, which owns half of Walmart, received US$8.5 billion over the last year. Indian billionaire Gautam Adani, owner of major energy corporations, has seen this wealth soar by US$42 billion (46 percent) in 2022 alone. Excess corporate profits have driven at least half of inflation in Australia, the US and the UK.

At the same time, at least 1.7 billion workers now live in countries where inflation is outpacing wages, and over 820 million people —roughly one in ten people on Earth— are going hungry. Women and girls often eat least and last, and make up nearly 60 percent of the world’s hungry population. The World Bank says we are likely seeing the biggest increase in global inequality and poverty since WW2. Entire countries are facing bankruptcy, with the poorest countries now spending four times more repaying debts to rich creditors than on healthcare. Three-quarters of the world’s governments are planning austerity-driven public sector spending cuts —including on healthcare and education— by US$7.8 trillion over the next five years.

Oxfam is calling for a systemic and wide-ranging increase in taxation of the super-rich to claw back crisis gains driven by public money and profiteering. Decades of tax cuts for the richest and corporations have fueled inequality, with the poorest people in many countries paying higher tax rates than billionaires.

Elon Musk, one of the world’s richest men, paid a “true tax rate” of about 3 percent between 2014 and 2018. Aber Christine, a flour vendor in Uganda, makes US$80 a month and pays a tax rate of 40 percent.

Worldwide, only four cents in every tax dollar now comes from taxes on wealth. Half of the world’s billionaires live in countries with no inheritance tax for direct descendants. They will pass on a US$5 trillion tax-free treasure chest to their heirs, more than the GDP of Africa, which will drive a future generation of aristocratic elites. Rich people’s income is mostly unearned, derived from returns on their assets, yet it is taxed on average at 18 percent, just over half as much as the average top tax rate on wages and salaries.

The report shows that taxes on the wealthiest used to be much higher. Over the last forty years, governments across Africa, Asia, Europe, and the Americas have slashed the income tax rates on the richest. At the same time, they have upped taxes on goods and services, which fall disproportionately on the poorest people and exacerbate gender inequality. In the years after WW2, the top US federal income tax rate remained above 90 percent and averaged 81 percent between 1944 and 1981. Similar levels of tax in other rich countries existed during some of the most successful years of their economic development and played a key role in expanding access to public services like education and healthcare.

“Taxing the super-rich is the strategic precondition to reducing inequality and resuscitating democracy. We need to do this for innovation. For stronger public services. For happier and healthier societies. And to tackle the climate crisis, by investing in the solutions that counter the insane emissions of the very richest,” said Bucher.

According to new analysis by the Fight Inequality Alliance, Institute for Policy Studies, Oxfam and the Patriotic Millionaires, an annual wealth tax of up to 5 percent on the world’s multi-millionaires and billionaires could raise US$1.7 trillion a year, enough to lift 2 billion people out of poverty, fully fund the shortfalls on existing humanitarian appeals, deliver a 10-year plan to end hunger, support poorer countries being ravaged by climate impacts, and deliver universal healthcare and social protection for everyone living in low- and lower middle-income countries.

Oxfam is calling on governments to:

Introduce one-off solidarity wealth taxes and windfall taxes to end crisis profiteering.
Permanently increase taxes on the richest 1 percent, for example to at least 60 percent of their income from labor and capital, with higher rates for multi-millionaires and billionaires. Governments must especially raise taxes on capital gains, which are subject to lower tax rates than other forms of income.
Tax the wealth of the richest 1 percent at rates high enough to significantly reduce the numbers and wealth of the richest people, and redistribute these resources. This includes implementing inheritance, property and land taxes, as well as net wealth taxes.

Notes to editors

Download “Survival of the Richest” and the methodology document outlining how Oxfam calculated the statistics in the report.

Oxfam’s calculations are based on the most up-to-date and comprehensive data sources available. Figures on the very richest in society come from the Forbes billionaire list.

All amounts are expressed in US dollars and, where relevant, have been adjusted for inflation using the US consumer price index.

According to the World Bank, extreme poverty increased in 2020 for the first time in 25 years. At the same time, extreme wealth has risen dramatically since the pandemic began.

The report shows that while the richest 1 percent captured 54 percent of new global wealth over the past decade, this has accelerated to 63 percent in the past two years. US$42 trillion of new wealth was created between December 2019 and December 2021. US$26 trillion (63 percent) was captured by the richest 1 percent, while US$16 trillion (37 percent) went to the bottom 99 percent. According to Credit Suisse, individuals with more than US$1 million in wealth sit in the top 1 percent bracket.

The billionaire class is US$2.6 trillion richer than before the pandemic, even if billionaire fortunes slightly fell in 2022 after their record-smashing peak in 2021. The world’s richest are now seeing their wealth climb again.

In the US, the UK and Australia, studies have found that 54 percent, 59 percent and 60 percent of inflation, respectively, was driven by increased corporate profits. In Spain, the CCOO (one of the country’s largest trade unions) found that corporate profits are responsible for 83.4 percent of price increases during the first quarter of 2022.

The World Bank announced that the world has almost certainly lost its goal of ending extreme poverty by 2030 and that “global progress in reducing extreme poverty has grind[ed] to a halt” amid what the Bank says was likely to be the largest increase in global inequality and the largest setback in global poverty since WW2. The World Bank defines extreme poverty as living on less than US$2.15 per day.

Elon Musk paid a “true tax rate” of just 3.27 percent from 2014 to 2018, according to ProPublica.

The US$6.85 poverty line was used to calculate how many people (2 billion) an annual wealth tax of up to 5 percent on the world’s multi-millionaires and billionaires could lift out of poverty.

Polling consistently finds that most people across countries support raising taxes on the richest. For example, the majority of people in the US, 80 percent of Indians, 85 percent of Brazilians and 69 percent of people polled across 34 countries in Africa support increasing taxes on the rich.

Oxfam’s research shows that the ultra-rich are the biggest individual contributors to the climate crisis. The richest billionaires, through their polluting investments, are emitting a million times more carbon than the average person. The wealthiest 1 percent of humanity are responsible for twice as many emissions as the poorest 50 percent and by 2030, their carbon footprints are set to be 30 times greater than the level compatible with the 1.5°C goal of the Paris Agreement.

Reaction to Government update on agriculture emissions

December 21, 2022

In reaction to today’s update on agriculture emissions, Oxfam Aotearoa’s Climate Justice Lead Nick Henry, said:

“We are frustrated that the Government is not taking climate destruction seriously enough. We should be aiming for the lowest possible climate pollution, not the lowest possible price on agricultural emissions.

“While we welcome Aotearoa New Zealand’s pledge to reduce methane emissions by 30% below 2020 levels by 2030, these current proposals to price agricultural emissions are estimated to reduce methane emissions by only around 4%. It doesn’t add up.

“The experts have spoken: reducing methane pollution now, as part of reducing total carbon emissions, is essential to avoiding the climate crisis getting worse for us here in Aotearoa, for our friends and whānau in the Pacific, and around the world.

“The Government needs to support our farmers to do their fair share of reducing climate pollution by fully pricing emissions and funding a shift to regenerative low emissions agriculture.”

Oxfam Aotearoa calls for:

A pricing system that ensures agriculture contributes a fair share of the emission reductions needed to meet our domestic and international commitments, including the Global Methane Pledge.
Emissions need to be priced now, not 2025.
The government must scrap the 95 percent discount – the agriculture industry should be paying their fair share.
The government needs to invest in equipping farmers to shift production modes and adjust land use to build a flourishing, regenerative organic food and fibre sector.

Reaction to WTO delay on easing intellectual property rules on COVID tests and treatment

December 19, 2022

Responding to news that the World Trade Organisation (WTO) will push back its deadline to reach a deal on easing intellectual property rules on Covid-19 tests and treatments to support the production of cheaper generic equivalents in developing countries, Max Lawson, Co-Chair of the People’s Vaccine Alliance and Head of Inequality Policy at Oxfam, said:

“We are nearly three years into the Covid-19 pandemic. As many as seventeen million people are estimated to have died in the time that the WTO has bickered over intellectual property rules for tests and treatments. To say that more time is needed to consider the issue is utter nonsense.

“Developing countries and civil society groups had hoped that the WTO had learned from its mistakes; that the cruel injustice of vaccine apartheid would not be repeated. Even the EU has previously said it would support action on tests and treatments. But WTO members have decided to let another year pass without making any meaningful contribution to the fight against Covid-19.

“Each day of delay will push an ever-greater share of the global toll of severe illness, deaths, and economic damage onto developing countries. That should haunt the conscience of the rich country leaders and negotiators responsible for the failure to meet the deadline.”

Notes to editors

This is a response to a text from the WTO TRIPS council: IP-C-95 I Report to the General Council.pdf
A waiver of intellectual property rules for COVID-19 vaccines, tests, and treatments was first proposed by India and South Africa at a WTO meeting on 15 and 16 October 2020. There have been 5,486,438 officially recorded global COVID-19 deaths between 16 Oct 2020 and 15 December 2022, according to Oxford University’s Our World In Data. A paper from the World Health Organisation (WHO) this week estimated that the true death toll was between 2.4 and 3.1 times higher than the officially reported number of COVID-19-related deaths. By that measure, there have been up to 17,007,957 COVID-related deaths in this period.
50 Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) have called on the EU to publicly and explicitly reiterate its support for a deal on intellectual property rules for COVID-19 tests and treatments: https://www.groen.be/letter_to_support_a_wide_trips_waiver
More than 160 civil society organisations and experts have called on the WTO Director-General to step in to prevent a further delay to any deal: https://app.box.com/s/ud3za0dyceyjz16ovdfl9igl3jurv0x0
The WTO reached a deal on vaccine intellectual property in June, pledging to agree on whether to extend the decision to cover tests and treatments within six months. The deadline is 17 December: https://docs.wto.org/dol2fe/Pages/SS/directdoc.aspx?filename=q:/WT/MIN22/W15R2.pdf&Open=True
Last week, the US called for the deadline to be pushed back: https://ustr.gov/about-us/policy-offices/press-office/press-releases/2022/december/us-support-extension-deadline-wto-trips-ministerial-decision-requests-usitc-investigation-provide-0
Just one in every fifty COVID-19 tests is administered in a low or middle-income country, despite these countries accounting for 84% of the world’s population: https://www.who.int/publications/m/item/act-accelerator-facilitation-council-working-group-report-on-diagnostics-and-therapeutics
There is very little publicly available data on access to COVID-19 treatments. However, orders of Paxlovid, the Pfizer-produced treatment with the highest recommendation from the WHO, indicate that three quarters of all orders will go to rich countries: https://www.oxfam.org/en/press-releases/just-quarter-pfizers-covid-19-treatment-orders-will-go-developing-countries
Dr. Ayoade Alakija, co-chair of the African Vaccine Delivery Alliance and special envoy to WHO ACT-A, has said that “zero” doses have reached low-income countries: https://twitter.com/yodifiji/status/1595048900615864322
Many low and middle-income countries, particularly in Latin America, are excluded from licensing agreements for generic versions of COVID-19 treatments. This means they could pay $250 for a course of treatment instead of $25/course for a generic equivalent – ten times as much: https://www.oxfam.org/en/press-releases/just-quarter-pfizers-covid-19-treatment-orders-will-go-developing-countries
The pharmaceutical company lobbying operation against an intellectual property waiver for COVID-19 vaccines, tests, and treatments, was revealed in an investigation by Politico and the Bureau for Investigative Journalism: https://www.politico.eu/article/covid-vaccine-poor-countries-waiver-killed/

New Somalia hunger figures – Oxfam reaction

December 14, 2022

The latest Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) figures for Somalia, shows that Somalia remains on the brink of famine. 5.6 million people are now in crisis or worse levels of food insecurity and this is expected to rise to 6.4 million by March 2023, and 8.3 million by June 2023. By June 2023, the number of people in catastrophic levels of hunger (IPC Phase 5) is expected to double to 727,000.

Parvin Ngala, Oxfam’s Regional Director for the Horn, East, and Central Africa said:

“Famine in Somalia is postponed, not prevented. People are dying now from hunger, malnutrition and disease in the worst hunger crisis in living memory. Current efforts can only hold off a full-scale catastrophe for a limited time. Without an urgent and major increase in aid, many more people will die.

Somalia has suffered from failed rains for five consecutive seasons. This is unprecedented. The catastrophic drought has caused crop failures and livestock deaths on a mass scale. Millions of people have lost their sources of income and food.

Meanwhile, the price of staple food has skyrocketed, making food unaffordable for poor households. And to make matters worse, the long-running conflict particularly in central and southern Somalia persists, forcing people from their homes, disrupting markets and access, and restricting aid.

This is a terrible vicious circle. Within a few months, it’s likely that nearly half the entire population of Somalia could be severely hungry and there will be more communities facing starvation.

Despite the extreme human suffering, only about half of the UN appeal is currently funded. Donors must immediately inject money to meet the US$2.27bn UN appeal for Somalia and help the government to scale up its social protection programmes.”

Notes to the editor

As of 6 December 2022, only 55.1% of the current US$2.27bn UN appeal was funded, Source: https://fts.unocha.org/countries/206/summary/2022

European countries water down landmark EU law to clean up business

December 6, 2022

Today, European justice ministers agreed on a proposal for a law to make companies accountable for the damage they cause to people and the planet.

In response, Oxfam EU’s Economic Justice Policy Lead, Marc-Olivier Herman, said:

“Today, European countries watered down a landmark proposal to clean up business and stop corporate abuse. It is a loss for the women and men who work in terrible conditions around the world to make the goods that end up in our shopping trolleys. The only ones celebrating today is the regressive business lobby.

“The original proposal was already a far cry from the game-changer law we expected. Now, after EU countries played their part, it is only weaker.

On civil liability, Herman said: “There are more and more loopholes allowing companies to escape their obligations to clean up their business.”

On the financial sector: “The financial sector can continue to bankroll human rights violations and damage to the planet without being held accountable as it remains up to each European country to decide whether they want to make banks and other financial players clean up business.”

On survivors accessing justice: “The playing field has been tipped towards companies to the extent that we do not know if the law will even make a difference to survivors of corporate injustice.”

On climate obligations: “The climate crisis, the biggest challenge of our times, remains an afterthought in the Council’s version of the legislation.”

“Now the European Parliament should pick up the tab left by European ministers. They must make sure that companies, including banks and investors, are held responsible for their harm to people and the planet.”

Notes to editors

Read our media briefing which breaks down the key issues in the proposal, and what the EU needs to do to make it better.

Read Oxfam’s report, Not in this Together, which details slavery-like conditions in the coffee industry in Brazil, workers in the Indian tea sector not able to make a living wage, and rice workers in Pakistan working up to 12 hours daily in extreme temperatures amongst others.

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