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‘Abolish Billionaires’

Activists disrupt private jet conference over climate impact of the super-rich
Katie Hill - Editor-in-Chief, My Green Pod
Abolish Billionaires demonstration

The Corporate Jet Investor conference, hosted at the Landmark Hotel, London, was derailed yesterday (04 February) when around 60 activists from Climate Resistance blockaded the building.

The glitzy conference brings together industry leaders in business aviation and potential investors for three days of talks and networking.

A crisis of inequality

Activists standing in front of the entrance to the conference disrupted proceedings to draw attention to the link between extreme wealth and the climate crisis.

They are demanding a wealth tax on assets over £10 million, in order to tax the super-rich out of existence and fund desperately needed climate action.

They were met with a heavy-handed response by security.

‘We can’t afford for the super-rich to continue with their hyper-polluting lifestyles whilst the rest of society foots the bill. The world’s richest 1% are most responsible for the climate crisis, and yet they are also the least likely to be directly impacted. It’s outrageous that billionaires carry on flaunting their wealth with luxury status symbols like private jets whilst extreme weather events destroy people’s homes and lives all around the world.

‘We know that the climate crisis is a crisis of inequality, and that to avoid its worst impacts we must redistribute wealth on a global scale. We’re calling for a 100% wealth tax on assets over £10 million to tax the super rich out of existence and fund real climate action in the places it’s needed most.’

SAM SIMONS
Spokesperson for Climate Resistance

Spotlight on billionaires

There has been growing attention on the super-rich in recent weeks, following the annual meeting of the World Economic Forum in Davos and the prominence of tech billionaires such as Elon Musk at Donald Trump’s inauguration.

Studies by Oxfam show that the world’s richest 1% own more wealth than the poorest 95% of humanity and emit as much planet-heating pollution as the poorest two-thirds of people.

Polling from YouGov found that 78% of voters support an annual wealth tax on those with assets worth over £10 million, including 77% of Conservative voters and 86% of Labour voters.

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