Oxfam says wealthy investors back both companies tied to climate pollution and businesses involved in disaster recovery, while climate shocks leave lower-income communities with fewer resources to absorb losses and rebuild. Oxfam published the report Oct. 27.
The organization estimates emissions associated with about 8 million people in the top 0.1% of the world's population exceed those of the poorest 3.5 billion people combined. Separately, Oxfam says wealthy investors also back disaster-preparation and recovery firms; its findings do not show that these investors are the same people as the entire top 0.1%.
Oxfam’s Destroy & Rebuild Index covers 217 companies active in carbon-polluting industries or selling products and services intended to help societies adapt to climate impacts. Oxfam says BlackRock and Vanguard together are invested in about 92% of the companies in the index, with combined investments valued at more than $1 trillion.
Oxfam estimates the global disaster-recovery market at $70 billion annually and projects it could reach $92 billion a year by 2029. Oxfam argues that wealthy investors with stakes in both pollution-related industries and disaster response may have a financial incentive to slow or disrupt climate action.
People with fewer resources can face harder recoveries when climate shocks destroy homes or crops, drain household savings and cut off livelihoods, Oxfam says. The report also finds that flood deaths are seven times higher in countries with greater inequality.
Oxfam is urging governments to raise taxes on wealthy people and polluting businesses, and to increase public climate finance for the Global South through grants rather than loans. It is taking those demands to COP31 in Türkiye. The report also cites privatization in Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria and reconstruction in Barbuda after Hurricane Irma as examples from earlier disasters.
