For decades, the biggest inequalities in carbon emissions have been between rich and poor countries. 

Now, inequalities within countries explain more of the gap between clean and dirty lifestyles. 

The top 1% of global earners — somebody earning a yearly salary of about €124,000 ($132,000) — are responsible for one-fifth of the growth in carbon pollution in the last 30 years. They live in cities from Miami to Mumbai. 

“The top 1% use basically a similar amount to the bottom 50% of humanity — and so obviously that, just in terms of scale, is a ridiculous proportion of the carbon budget,” said Anisha Nazareth, a scientist at the Stockholm Environment Institute (SEI) studying emissions inequality.

 Oligarch Roman Abramovich’s 162-meter-long boat comes with two helipads and a swimming pool. A study published in 2021 estimated that Abramovich’s yacht emitted more carbon dioxide in 2018 than Tuvalu, a pacific island nation of 11,000 people.

In the EU, half the spending on air travel comes from the richest 20%. In the US and Canada, 19% of adults who take more than four flights a year account for 79% of the flights. 

Shrinking the carbon footprints of the super-rich? – DW – 01/02/2023

 Two nuclear power plants in the UK are at the risk of being closed next year as a result of the windfall tax approved by the British authorities last year, The Sunday Telegraph reports on Sunday, citing French grid operator Electricite de France (EDF), which runs the stations.

EDF, which owns all five of the serving nuclear plants across the UK said that the new levy, which has come into effect on January 1, will make it harder for the operator to run the ageing stations of Heysham 1 and Hartlepool.

The UK authorities introduced the Energy Price Levy earlier this year and then expanded it in November in an effort to refill the nation’s budget drained by subsidizing natural gas bills that have skyrocketed since London joined the Ukraine-related sanctions.

The windfall tax on oil and gas generators was raised from 25% to 35%, imposing an overall tax rate of 75% on profits from UK operations. The measure places a 45% tax on any income from lower-carbon power sold for more than £75 ($91) per megawatt hour starting 2023.

“We accept there’s definitely a need for a levy of some kind – you’ve got to break the link between really high gas prices and the impact they have on power prices,” Rachael Glaving, commercial director of generation at EDF UK, told the newspaper.

“But of course that’s going to factor into the business case of life extension and we’ll have to take that [the windfall tax] into consideration. It’s not going to make it easier.”

She stressed that the levy will damage the business case for the facilities at a time when inflation is already pushing up other costs.

Heysham 1 and Hartlepool supply over two gigawatts of electricity to the grid, providing enough power for four million households annually, and nearly 4% of the power Britain uses during highest winter peaks.

Under the initial plan, the two power plants were to close in March 2024, but the owner considered extending the operating period for a “short term” amid a large-scale energy crisis that has hit Western Europe over the past years.

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Dave C.

To connect to any of our Zoom events, click https://zoom.us/j/7421974305 (or type the address into your browser address field) then follow the instructions on screen. You will enter a virtual waiting room – please be patient, and you will be admitted to the meeting shortly.

 “North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has called for the country to develop a new intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) and boost its nuclear arsenal amid rising tensions on the Korean Peninsula, state-run media reported.

Pyongyang requires “overwhelming military power” to defend itself as Washington and “our undoubted enemy” Seoul try to “isolate and stifle” North Korea with US nuclear assets deployed in South Korean territory, Kim said on Sunday, according to the state-run KCNA news agency.

During a meeting of the ruling Workers’ Party of Korea (WPK), the country’s leader insisted that a new ICBM capable of a “quick nuclear counter-strike” must be developed by North Korea.

Kim stressed the importance of “mass-producing tactical nuclear weapons,” saying “an exponential increase of the country’s nuclear arsenal” would be the “main orientation” of North Korea’s defense strategy in 2023, KCNA reported.

Pyongyang is also planning to launch its first military satellite “at the earliest date possible,” and this is in the final stages of development, the agency added. 

On Saturday, Kim praised the country’s defense industry for delivering 30 new 600mm super-large multiple rocket launchers to the military. He described the nuclear-capable system as the country’s “core offensive weapon,” which can strike anywhere in South Korea with surprise and precision launches.

“We have declared our resolute will to respond with nuke for nuke and an all-out confrontation for an all-out confrontation,” he warned, as quoted by KCNA.

North Korea carried out a record number of missile tests in 2022, some of which involved ICBMs, according to calculations by Western media outlets. And it has already fired a short-range ballistic missile off its east coast in the early hours of the new year. Washington and Seoul have claimed that the North is gearing up for its nuclear test since 2017.

South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol warned on Sunday that North Korea would continue with its nuclear and missile provocations, insisting that Seoul’s military should respond to such moves with clear retaliation, according to his office.

On Monday, Pyongyang sent five drones into South Korean territory, with Seoul responding by flying three UAVs into North Korean airspace. South Korean Defence Minister Lee Jong-sup told parliament on Wednesday that President Yoon had ordered him to come up with a tit-for-tat response “even if that means risking escalation.”

Tensions have been on the rise between the two neighbours since Yoon came to power in May and declared a “peace through strength” policy, which is based on further boosting military ties with the US. In late December, Seoul announced an increase in joint drills with the Americans, with 20 such exercises planned for the first half of 2023 alone.”

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Dave C.

 To all those who agitate for more taxation of millionaires and billionaires, the only way to ensure fairness and true equality is to replace capitalism with socialism – production for need, not profit. Ask yourself, what would governments squander extra revenue on anyway? Because it’s odds -on it wouldn’t, in the long run (or short), help those who need help most.

“Tesla owner Elon Musk has lost some $200 billion in the past year, becoming the first person ever to lose that much money, Bloomberg reported on Saturday, citing calculations from its Billionaires Index.

According to the report, Musk had a net worth of $340 billion after Tesla’s market capitalization topped $1 trillion late last year. However, his fortune is now worth $137 billion.

Analysts say the losses were attributable to the poor performance of Tesla stock, which plummeted by 65% this year, intensifying its descent in the weeks following Musk’s acquisition of Twitter.

In order to help cover the cost of purchasing the social media platform, Musk has been selling Tesla shares, leading to accusations from investors that he is prioritizing Twitter over Tesla.

The billionaire, however, has repeatedly dismissed concerns about the car-manufacturing company, claiming on Twitter earlier this month that it “is executing better than ever.”

However, Tesla’s plummeting stock has already cost Musk his place as the world’s richest man. Earlier this month, the title passed to French tycoon Bernard Arnault, owner of the luxury-goods conglomerate LVMH.”

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Dave C.

 Coca-Cola announced that it would donate the equivalent of a meal to charity for every person who visits its Christmas truck tour in the UK this year. It’s only at the very end of its announcement that the world’s richest beverage company explains it will give a maximum of just £25,000 to the charity Fairshare, which redistributes surplus food to the hungry.

According to Fairshare, £25,000 is enough to supply 100,000 meals. But the donation amounts to less than 0.01% of the £259.9m profit Coca-Cola made in the UK—the equivalent of a millionaire donating three £30 turkeys to charity. By contrast, Coca-Cola handed £440m in dividends to shareholders in 2021, dipping into its reserves to do so.

BAE Systems, also among the 30 biggest companies in the UK,donated £150,000 to food banks last Christmas—just 0.007% of its £2.3bn profit for 2021. The arms manufacturer said it gave £11m overall to charity in 2021. By comparison, it handed out £1.1bn to shareholders in dividends and share buybacks.

British Gas owner Centrica—among the top 100 largest UK companies—also gave £250,000 to food bank operator Trussell Trust last Christmas. The donation was equivalent to 0.03% of its profits in 2021—which stood at £948m, double what it made the previous year. The charity says the number of people using food banks rose by 40% between April and September this year.

For the last two years, staff working at Jaguar Land Rover have donated £5,000 of their own money to charity and tens of thousands of grocery items to food banks—but, asked if the company itself had contributed, a spokesperson told openDemocracy they were only aware of the donations given by employees.

“These companies’ charitable giving is too small even to call it reputation washing. This seems more like the corporate equivalent of using a drop of spit to clean something off the side of your mouth,” said Alex Cobham, chief executive of the Tax Justice Network.

Amazon, meanwhile—one of the world’s richest companies—donated an estimated £256,000 to charity in the UK last Christmas.

The company said it gave £120,000, split between 120 local charities nominated by employees: £50,000 to children’s charity Barnardo’s, £25,000 each to homeless charity Depaul and family support charity Home-Start, and £10,000 to rapper Stormzy’s #MerkyFoundation.

Amazon UK also said it also donated £500 to “every local food bank” near its 24 warehouses. openDemocracy estimates this could amount to a £26,000 donation given there are 52 food banks run by the Trussell Trust within five miles of Amazon’s 24 sites.

Amazon UK Services, the warehouse and logistics arm of its business, made profits of £204m before tax in the UK last year, according to accounts filed at Companies House. The corporation’s Christmas donations in the UK would amount to 0.13% of this income.

But Amazon’s total profits in the UK were likely much higher than this figure. The company reported that revenue for all its business in the UK—including retail and cloud computing services not included in the £204m figure—was £23.2bn in 2021. It would not reveal how much profit it made from this.

Amazon paid no corporation tax in the UK that year, thanks to the “super-deduction” scheme for businesses that invest in infrastructure that was introduced the same year by the then chancellor, Rishi Sunak, according to research from the Fair Tax Foundation.

“Big businesses like to pretend that, left to their own devices, they will do the right thing. These figures show clearly how hollow those claims are,” said Nick Dearden, director of campaign group Global Justice Now.

Opinion | Corporations Are the Modern-Day Scrooges | Common Dreams

An analysis, conducted by the healthcare research company 3 Axis Advisors, said that Big Pharma corporations including Pfizer, AstraZeneca PLC, and Sanofi SA are set to raise the list prices—which do not include any rebates—on over 350 drugs early in January.

 The pharmaceutical giants plan to raise U.S. prices for hundreds of drugs next month in anticipation of the Biden administration’s Inflation Reduction Act, which will allow Medicare to negotiate the cost of certain drugs starting in 2026.

Pharma Giants to Hike 350+ US Drug Prices in the New Year: Analysis (commondreams.org)