UN PRME Working Group on Climate Change and Environment
Billionaires and climate change
Author: Dr. Karen Cripps, Oxford Brookes University Business School, United Kingdom
With oversized feet, Izan Zareski’s ‘Big Foot’ family sculptures (Zareski, n.d.), symbolise human connection to the planet through shared experiences, seeking to inspire unity and environmental consciousness across generations. The oversized feet might also be taken to represent the outsized carbon footprint associated with billionaire lifestyles and the unequal power and influence that come with unfettered wealth.
The global non-governmental organisation, Oxfam, has run several campaigns highlighting how climate inequality is magnified by the ‘super-rich’ and that the world’s richest 1% “burn through their entire annual carbon limit in just 10 days” (Oxfam, 2025). Billionaires’ higher carbon emissions are typically associated with lifestyle consumption and travel choices, but also through financial investments, and influence on media/policy.
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Climate literacy mentoring programme: Open to mentors and mentees
This year, the Working Group is delighted to launch a mentoring programme for anyone interested in climate literacy training. Anyone working within Higher Education is warmly invited to get involved as mentor or mentee. Since its launch a few months ago, many great mentoring relationships are actively underway, based on shared interest in developing climate literacy education across the curriculum, community outreach and/or research. The mentoring relationship can be tailored to suit each individual, providing numerous opportunities to expand your global network. We hope to welcome as many as possible to our climate literacy mentoring community!
On the website link, you can find further information, including a sign-up form.
