Tanzania - United Republic Of: Climate activists Cynthia, Hilda, Marinel and Pavel at the Climate Justice Camp. Photo: Tim Zijlstra/Oxfam

Safe Climate, Equal Future

Oxfam is spotlighting how inequality drives climate change, and how climate change is deepening poverty and inequality. From the mountain peaks of Nepal to the blue oceans of the Pacific, communities who have done the least to cause climate change are bearing the brunt of its impacts.

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Phillipines: Marinel holding a protest card in front of Shell HQ in Manilla, just like she used to do during the lobby for the petition to have a resolution on Fossil companies abusing human rights by fueling climate change with extractive and polluting activities. Photo: Stories4Change by Climate Tracker.

To create a safe climate and more equal future, we must hold the big polluters to account for their climate damage and ensure they pay their fair share to impacted countries and communities.

Climate change is causing disasters to become more frequent and severe. These disasters often cause the greatest harm to communities who have the least and have contributed the least to climate pollution. Small islands like those in the Pacific and Torres Strait and low-income countries like Nepal are being hit the hardest by global heating, which is causing heatwaves, flash floods, more extreme cyclones, droughts and sea level rise.

Too often, people are losing loved ones, their homes, their crops and livestock, their livelihoods, and vital infrastructure. People’s health, their community and their culture can be damaged forever. When disasters hit recovery can be long, hard and expensive. After losing everything to climate change-induced disasters, families can face extreme hardship, and those with the least resources to recover are being pushed into deeper poverty, increasing inequality.

Too often, people are losing loved ones, their homes, their crops and livestock, their livelihoods, and vital infrastructure.

People’s health, their community and their culture can be damaged forever. When disasters hit recovery can be long, hard and expensive. After losing everything to climate change-induced disasters, families can face extreme hardship, and those with the least resources to recover are being pushed into deeper poverty, increasing inequality.

Oxfam research shows that the richest 1% of the global population are responsible for more climate pollution than the poorest two-thirds of humanity combined.

This is due to their lavish lifestyles and investments in highly polluting industries. Big coal, oil and gas corporations are making billions, receive government subsidies and often pay little tax, while the pollution from their products is causing huge damage to the climate and harm to everyday people.

Westminster, London: A campaigner poses as Prime Minister Rishi Sunak outside of the Palace of Westminster, supporting the Make Polluters Pay campaign. Photo: David Levene / Oxfam.

Why aren’t they paying for the damage?

Australia is a wealthy country, with a big coal, oil and gas industry. This industry is responsible for 75% of Australia’s climate pollution and also profits from exporting these polluting products overseas. Australia must hold these big polluters to account.

Australia: Four climate activists from the Kimberley, the Philippines and the Solomon Islands came together for the Safe Climate, Equal Future Speakers tour in September 2024. Photo: Heidi Demond/Oxfam

We must stop approving new coal, oil and gas projects and end the $16.3 billion in annual fossil fuel subsidies, which are making climate change worse.Then we must put a levy on coal, oil and gas corporation’s pollution, and invest the funds raised into supporting communities at home and in our region to move to renewable energy, and to prepare for and recover from more climate disasters.

We are demanding better. Here’s how.

Loss and damage: the true cost of climate change

The impacts of climate change are here, and people in the Pacific, low-income countries, and in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island communities are feeling them especially strongly.

Loss and damage is the term used for climate impacts which cannot be or have not been mitigated or adapted to. The “loss” refers to things that are irreversibly lost such as lives, a way of living or historical sites, while the “damage” refers to things that can be repaired or recovered such as roads, buildings or crop yields.

Grace Malie is a climate activist from Tuvalu, a small low-lying Pacific island, and she knows loss and damage all too well. She fears that her home may be uninhabitable in a few years if insufficient action is taken. That’s why she’s advocating for urgent and bold climate action now.

First Peoples Climate Justice

First Nations communities contribute the least yet experience the first and worst impacts of climate change.

Oxfam Australia’s First Peoples Climate Justice campaign supports First Nations communities and partners across Australia and the Torres Strait Islands who are impacted by and leading the responses to climate change, environmental racism and resource injustice.

We work in partnership with First Peoples communities to:

ensure self-determined responses to climate impacts
amplify community-led campaigns
shift power to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders

Make Big Polluters Pay

Everyday people are suffering the consequences of climate change, while big coal, oil and gas corporations are making huge profits.

These big polluters responsible for 75% of Australia’s climate pollution make billions, take government subsidies, pay little tax and contribute almost nothing for their climate damages.

The Australian Government is providing $16.3 billion in fossil fuel subsidies per year, and 1 in 3 big coal, oil and gas corporations pay no corporate income tax. Those that do, often pay little, despite making billions.

Meanwhile, communities in Australia and the Pacific that have done the least to cause the damage are weathering the storms and paying the price. In Australia, everyday people are seeing increasing insurance bills, food prices, and huge recovery costs from more severe storms, drought, bushfires and floods.The cost of climate disasters in Australia is now $38 billion per year, equivalent to $3,800 per household on average.