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The world’s five richest men have more than doubled their fortunes from $405 billion to $869 billion since 2020 —at a rate of $14 million per hour— while nearly five billion people have been made poorer, reveals a new Oxfam report on inequality and global corporate power. If current trends continue, the world will have its first trillionaire within a decade but poverty won’t be eradicated for another 229 years.

Today, the European Court of Justice ruled that Luxembourg did not provide illegal state aid to Amazon through a tax deal.  The ruling overturns the 2017 decision from the European Commission ordering Amazon to pay back 250 million euros in unpaid taxes to the Grand Duchy.

Responding to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s Working Group I contribution to the Sixth Assessment Report, Oxfam Climate Policy Lead Nafkote Dabi said: “Amid a world in parts burning, in parts drowning and in parts starving, the IPCC today tables the most compelling wake-up call yet for global industry to switch from oil, gas and coal to renewables."

Using land alone to remove the world’s carbon emissions to achieve ‘net zero’ by 2050 would require at least 1.6 billion hectares of new forests, equivalent to five times the size of India or more than all the farmland on the planet, reveals a new Oxfam report today.

Responding to the announcement today that the OECD Inclusive Framework on Base Erosion and Profit Shifting has agreed to push ahead with the two-pronged global tax reform deal and set a global minimum corporate tax of 15 percent, Gabriela Bucher, Executive Director of Oxfam International, said:  “This is not an ‘historic’ deal ―it is history repeating itself. Those who shamelessly rigged the global tax system to their benefit over a century ago have again ring-fenced the game for themselves."

The COVID-19 crisis cost women around the world at least $800 billion in lost income in 2020, equivalent to more than the combined GDP of 98 countries, said Oxfam today.  

Governments are letting big business off the hook when it comes to paying the billions they owe in tax, Oxfam said in reaction to the latest decision of the European Commission on Luxembourg's tax deal with online retailer Amazon.

“This is very troubling news, but sadly it’s part of a dangerous trend. All over the world we’re seeing a new rush for land, often with deadly consequences for local rights defenders," said Rashmi Mistry, head of Oxfam's GROW campaign.