[captioning made possible by democracy now!] amy: from new york, this is democracy now! in one of the most exciting victories for progressives and immigrant communities in tuesday's midterm elections, democratic state representative delia ramirez won her election

for new york's new third congressional district, making her the first latino elected to congress from illinois. we will go to chicago to speak with congress member elect ramirez who is the daughter of guatemalan immigrants. and then we look at rank-choice voting which was on the ballot tuesday in nevada and shaped the outcome of the senate race in alaska. >> america understands that r democracy is on life-support. in the 2022 midterm elections, we also saw promising wins for democracy in t form of rank-choice voti. in portland, orego communities led a successful campaign where the most transverseental form of this. this provides a roadmap for how we strengthen our democracy moving forward. amy: as president biden arrives at the climate summit and heads to the g20, a new report on

carbon billionaires says a wealth tax could curb the urgent climate finance needs of developing countries. >> equivalent to an entire year of admissions -- emissions. >> 4 million people going vegan. amy: all that and more, coming up. welcome to democracy now, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. three days after u.s. voters cast ballots in a critical midterm election, the balance of power in congress rests on the outcomes of three yet-to-be-determined senate contests and 30 congressional races. in georgia, democratic senator rev. rafael warnock kicked off a renewed re-election campaign on thursday after he fell just shy of the 50% of votes needed to prevent a runoff on december 6th against his republican opponen the trumbacked fmer football

star herhel walk. >> so, i need you to fight like the future of georgia and the future of america depends on it. because it does. are you already to fight? are you ready to g this done? amy: senator rafael warnock . in nevada, republican adam laxalt -- a 2020 election denier -- leads incumbent democratic senator catherine cortez masto by fewer than 9,000 votes with about 100,000 mail-in ballots still to be counted. in arizona, incumbent democratic senator mark kelly leads trump-backed republican blake masters by more than 110,000 votes, with about one in five ballots yet to be counted. arizona's gubernatorial race is even closer, with democrat katie hobbs leading trump-backed republican kari lake by just over one percentage point.

lake has repeatedly denied the outcome of the 2020 presidential election and has refused to say whether she would accept the results of the election if she loses. ahead of the midterms, election officials in arizona's maricopa county received more than 100 violent threats and intimidating communications. bill gates, the republican chair of the maricopa county board of supervisors, spoke to reporters on thursday. >> more people need to start speaking out and saying that is absolutely unacceptable. nobody should be the subject of that threats, particularly not those who are simply trying to keep our democracy afloat painting count of votes and make sure every eligible voter's ballot is treated with respect. amy: meanwhile republicans have edged closer to a majority in the house of representatives, but need to win at least seven of the remaining contests. one closely watched race is in colorado's 3rd congressional district, where the far-right,

pro-gun election-denying incumbent republican lauren boebert leads democrat adam frisch by about 1000 votes. that contest may be heading for a recount. meanwhile, democrat tina kotek has won a narrow victory in the oregon governor's race. she joins maura healey of massachusetts as the first openly lesbian elected governors in the united states. ukraine's military says it has reclaimed control over 100 square miles of territory in the kherson region over the last 24 hours, including dozens of settlements. ukraine's latest battlefield gains came as russian officials said all troops have withdrawn from kherson city. kherson is one of four ukrainian territories russian president vladimir putin claimed to have annexed in october. elsewhere, officials in the city of mykolaiv say russian attacks on a residential building killed

six people overnight. this week, top u.s. general mark milley estimated more than 100,000 soldiers on each side of the conflict have been killed or wounded. his remarks came as the wall street journal reported south korea will for the first time sell artillery shells destined for ukraine's military through a confidential arms deal between seoul and washington. the saleomes afterorth korea's governme denied reports it has sent artillery shells and ammunition to russia for use in ukraine. meanwhile, ukrainian president volodimir zelensky has warned russia's invasion has led to a dramatic rise in greenhouse gas emissions. >> the russian war has brought about an energy crisis that has forced dozens of countries to resume qualifier power generation in order to lower energy prices for their people. at least a little to lower prices that are shockingly rising due to deliberate russian

actions. the russian war brought an ate fu crisis to the war which sees those countries suffering fr the existing climate change, catastrophic drought, large-scale floods. amy: the remarks came at a climate summit in egypt on tuesday. egyptian authorities have denied entry to the country of the italian activist giorgio caracciolo, from the anti-torture group dignity, even though he was accredited to attend cop27. this comes amid mounting international pressure to release striking political prisoner alaa abd el-fattah, who was denied a visit from his lawyer yesterday, as his family grows increasingly concerned for his life. he entered a complete food and water strike on sunday. president biden is meeting with

the president of egypt today. in a direct appeal to biden, his sister said "you can make the difference here. you can save alaa and show there is some hope for common sense, freedom, and democracy. don't fail us, please." cairo and other cities are in a form of lockdown with authorities maintaining a heavy presence in the streets. the white house says president biden will meet with chinese leader xi jinping at the g20 summit next week in bali, indonesia. it will be the pair's first in-person meeting since biden took office. the white house says the talks will focus on "efforts to maintain and deepen lines of communication." russian president vladimir putin will skip the g20 summit. in china, authorities have ordered new lockdowns affecting millions of people after the

number of daily covid-19 cases topped 10,000 for the first time since april. about 5 million residents of guangzhou's downtown district have been confined to their homes through sunday. meanwhile, officials tightened covid restrictions across beijing after reporting a record 118 new locally transmitted cases. many residents say they've been unable to leave beijing since the start of the pandemic. >> avon on october 1 for the national bank holiday, i could not go anywhere. many of my colleagues have not been home for a few years either. i'm thinking about going back home but with the outbreaks people cannot. nor can they return to beijing. amy: in the occupied west bank, two more palestinians were killed by israeli forces in separate incidents wednesday. one of the victims was 15-year-old mahdi hashash from the balata refugee camp in nablus. in related news, earlier this week in geneva, switzerland, palestinian human rights group al-haq told a u.n. human rights

commission that israel uses "mafia methods" of threats and intimidation to silence groups documenting israeli rights violations against palestinians. meanwhile, in washington d.c., the state department called out far-right israeli politician itamar ben-gvir for attending the memorial or meir kahane, the ultranationalist founder of the racist kach party, which later became kahane chai. this is state department spokesperson ned price. >> celebrating the legacy of a terrorist organization is abhorrent. there is no other word for it. we remain concerned by the legacy and the continued use of rhetoric among violent extremists. amy: in may, the biden administration removed kahane chai from its list of "foreign terrorist organizations" despite its connection to the murder of palestinians and arab americans, including on u.s. soil.

itamar ben-gvir is expected to become a key member of benjamin netanyahu's new government. in chicago, construction of the obama presidential library was halted on thursday after work crews discovered a noose at the site. in a statement, the obama foundation wrote, "this shameless act of cowardice and hate is designed to get attention and divide us." the u.s. parole commission has granted compassionate release to longtime political prisoner mutulu shakur after 36 years in prison. the 72-year-old black liberation activist likely has less than six months to live, after he was diagnosed in prison with stage 3 bone marrow cancer. shakur was convicted in 1988 of -- he is the stepfather of the late tupac shakur.

washington, d.c.'s district attorney has filed a consumer protection lawsuit against the washington commanders and team owner dan snyder, along with the national football league and its commissioner roger goodell. the lawsuit laid out thursday by d.a. karl racine alleges that snyder lied when he denied knowing about a hostile work environment and culture of sexual harassment at his franchise. >> in fact, the evidence shows mr. snyder was not only aware of the toxic culture witn his organization, he encouraged it, and he participated in it. mr. snyder exerted a high level of personal control over everything the commanders did, and his misconduct gave others permission to treat women in the same demeaning manner. amy: the lawsuit alleges snyder was joined by the nfl and its commissioner roger goodell in a campaign to mislead the public about what was being done to address harassment allegations. prosecutors are seeking millions of dollars in penalties.

last year, the nfl levied a $10 million fine against the washgton football team after 15 women came forward with allegations of sexual harassment and verbal abuse. in texas, a federal judge struck down the biden administration's student loan relief program, calling it illegal. the ruling comes in response to a lawsuit by the conservative group the job creators network foundation. the program was already on hold due to a challenge from a group of republican-led states. the white house is appealing the order by trump-appointed judge mark pittman. the education department has already approved 16 million borrowers for up to $20,000 of relief, out of 26 million people who have applied for the program. 48,000 university of california graduate student workers are preparing to strike across all 10 uc campuses starting the monday. student workers, organized wit

united auto woers, are demanding the university system pay a living wage, and engage in good faith bargaininfor a fair union ntract. student workers recently rallied on the uc berkeley campus. >> can someone tell me why my peers are attending funerals on zoom because they cannot afford plane tickets back home? >> making sure we have our basic necessities. >> real equity, we'll access means paying living wages so that this university is not just for those with generational wealth. amy: and in more labor news, employees at harpercollins publishers launched an open-ended strike thursday amid stalled contract negotiations. workers are demanding harpercollins increase pay and provide better paid leave benefits, as well as address its lack of diversity. harpercollins is the publisher of howard zinn's "a people's history of the united states," as well as the books "a collective bargain: unions, organizing, and the fight for democracy" and "squeezed: why our families can't afford

america." and those are some of the headlines. this is democracy now, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. we begin today's show in chicago, where one of the most exciting victories for progressives and latin and immigrant communities in tuesday's midterm elections took place, as democratic state rep. delia ramirez won her election for illinois' newly redrawn 3rd congressional district, making her the first latina elected to congress from illinois. we just made her-story tonight in the third district. amy: democradelia ramirez is a progressivstate representative who is the daughter of guatemalan immigrants, and the wife of a daca recipient. she previously served in the illinois state house after being elected in 2018 and has for years been a community organir. she formerly worked as the campaign manager of common cause

illinois, co-chaired the elected officials chter of the state's working families party affiliate. the working families party played a key role in supporting her congressional race, and progressive members of congress also supported her, including senator sanders and elizabeth warr and also congressmember alexandria ocasio-cortez. as the intercept reports, ramirez is now said to be "poised to become a squaadjacent member of congress," but she had to overcome opposition fr the aipac-allied super pac, democratic majority for israel, or dmfi, the day after the election, congressmember elect delia ramirez spoke at a celebratory press conference held by the illinois coalition for immigrant and refugee rights. delia: you are sending

yourselves to the state senate, to the statehouse, to the county. you are working for lake county, will county, suburban folks, paul county, as well. but you have more to go d you are just getting started. amy: for more, congressmember-elect delia ramirez joins us now from chicago. welcome to democracy now! and congratulations. delia: thank you. good morning. honored to be here. amy: you talked about people sending themselves to every level of elected office, and you, the first latina to be elected to congress. talk about who you represent and what you feel are the key issues

that you want to represent in congress. delia: when i announced on december 8 one year ago that we were running for congress, i was delivered about making it we. my name is on the ballot in november. in june, i was taking the voice is, the souls, the mind of the people asked me to run. these are people who are struggling paying for their childcare. these are people that i helped house years ago when i used to run homeless shelters. these are the same people i've been working with and building with, progressives and the statehouse, state senate. these are people who have been fighting every single day to create affordable housing so that people can have families -- families can have stable housing, security. when i say "we," i want them to know that they may not be on the

ballot, but they are going with me to washington, d.c. that was really important. it meant to 800 volunteers worked very hard, endlessly, to make sure i made it through a very challenging primary. one of my opponents did everything in his power to try and destroy my character in commercials, mailers, radio, digital ads. unfortunate for him, it backfired. people knew my track record was one of expanding health care coverage, of helping to create democracy for elected school board in chicago. i secured more than $1.5 billion in emergency housing relief to key people in their homes during the pandemic. it was clear. people knew i had a track record. they knew i represented thousands of people in my journey in public service, and

that i'm going to congress to build a network we have done in illinois. you asked me what are the things i want to work on. for me, this race is personal. i am the daughter of immigrants. i have parents who cannot afford their medicare supplementals. my mother is on medicare working a minimum wage job as a homecare worker. she cares for this 93-year-old senior. she worries about her diabetes medication. the fact that the agency she works for pays so little, she cannot afford the $550 a month health care insurance they offer, the co-pays, and the cost of her insulin is almost one third of her income. this is the reality for me. i'm also the wife of a daca recipient, someone who has been in this country since the age of 14. i am entering congress as the

only member of a mixed family. access to health care and quality is absolutely important to me. finally, after 30 years of a conversation on immigration reform, it is not something that i will just cosponsor, talk about, hashtag. i understand the urgency of the people sending me and the need to be a leader on the issue. in the short term, my hope, what i call my future colleagues to do during the lame-duck, is to finally pass the dream act and give daca recipients that pathway to citizenship that they deserve, my husband deserves, l of the young people who are no longer young. who look like me, who have been waiting for, contributing and calling this place home for so long. and lastly, the economy. what i hear people say, what resonated was, yes, we have made progress. yes, we helped to keep your housing during the pandemic.

we are helping you through some child tax credits, support services, but the reality is it is still not enough. you are still struggling with two jobs and barely making it. we have a responsibility to hold corporations accountable, and all those that have profited and created this inflation, the backs of everyday working people. immigration, health care, economy are front and center for me. amy: let me ask you about your assessment of the biden administration on immigration, continuing to support the trump-era policies like title 42, which has blocked at least 2 million migrants for applying for asylum at the u.s.-mexico border. what is your assessment of president biden onmmigration? delia: i think president biden has done some good work and we have a lot more to do. the reality is no one travels

through central america, or through the jungles of venezuela, if they didn't feel like it was like or death. the reality is, we also have to talk about what our relations with foreign policy is, partners, or lack thereof. there is a comprehensive immigration reform that we must take on and have to understand the root causes of migration. people do not come here because they woke up and said, i think i am bored here in guatemala, nearly starving. i am just going to figure out how to find $10,000 to begin a journey of traveling which means i may die, raped, may not make it to the other side. people are crossing the border because it is there only option for survival. in my opinion, these are refugees. these are people seeking asylum coming from countries who are

destroying the ability for everyday people to have their basic needs met. amy: let me ask you about reproductive rights, something you have championed for a long time. abortion was a referendum in five different states. abortion rights activists won everyone. three of those states enshrined abortion rights into the constitution. there were two antiabortion referendum, like in kentucky, that were overwhelmingly defeated. can you speak to this and how much further you want to go in congress to protect reproductive rights? delia: in illinois, as a freshman representative, i stood with 42 democrat women in the statehouse for six hours, demanding that our chamber codify roe v. wade, specifically preparing ourselves for this

moment. it was not an easy fight. i will be honest, there were democrats that did not vote for it. certainly not one republican on the other side voted for it, although they knew clearly they were voting against their own interests. republican women and others on the others. to me, what i saw in illinois, what i have seen across the country, is that people are saying, women are saying, people who were born with a female reproductive system, they are saying you do not get to choose what i do over my body. my decision to have a family, is a decision between my family and my doctor. let me say, in the latino community, which i know people have said the red wave, the republicans are investing so

much into latinos because they do not support abortion. there was no red wave in the latino community the fear, that we would codify roe v. wade, that did not work in the favor of republicans. we understand abortion is health care. if people care about fertility, ectopic pregnancies and dime from that, having rights over their bodies, making sure we protect our ability to abortion, is critical to our livelihood. that was clear in the latino community, clear across the country. i want to make sure there is never a federal ban on abortion. i want to make sure we are educating people on what abortion care and reproductive rights is, and what it isn't. the amount of misinformation,

and this idea that you go into communities of color and just spread all of this misinformation because they don't know better? to me, that is the enemy of white supremacy and was his and is cash racism is. on election night, people across the country responded clearly and said, we know better. we are educated. we know what we need. we know what we need to protect. amy: your thoughts, finally, on the one hand, you had a number of progressives who won, like summer lee, the first african-american congress member to represent pennsylvania. greg casar, the youngest member of the austin city council. but you also have greg abbott, who won his reelection, the texas governor. then you have ron desantis in

florida who easily won his reelection. they have sent asylum seekers to cities, chicago, in a defiant show of anti-immigrant zeal. ron desantis, possibly a presidential candidate in 2024. your comments about how you feel it is most important to represent immigrants in this country today? delia: the fear mongering and scapegoating of immigrants is not a new thing. you will see this every election cycle. all of a sudden you hear about caravans. this case we are hearing about venezuelans coming through the border. you have seen people traffic immigrants across the country, put them on planes.

this could not have been more painful to see. i met a three-year-old who had already learned that she would need to have an alias because she was afraid her family would be deported. we are a country of diversity. if we say we welcome all people, that is a superpower, a beautiful nation that stands on justice and love, that we should be a country that is pro-immigrant. in this moment, we are not. my hope comes from maxwell frost in florida. greg gosar in texas. -- casar in texas. the reality is, in 10 months, we will be circulating petitions again. i hope michelle runs again.

some of the local work that we do will be so critical as we move the needle in gubernatorial races. greg abbott, ron desantis, and the extremist republicans are scared. they are so scared of who we are and that this daughter of immigrants, whose mother cross the border of mexico and guatemala to come here, pregnant with me, nearly drowning, is about to go to congress. that is fear to them. i represent an electric to that is growing, that expects them to deliver for all people, but the politics to the side, and make working for working families a priority. that will impact the corporation that continue to profit at the expense of our people. but we are here, we are not leaving. we are representing. six of us latinos are going to congress, and those numbers will continue to grow. we understand the importance of

multicultural coalition building for all people. amy: congress member elect delia ramirez, thank you for being with us. the first latina to be elected to congress to represent not only illinois, but the midwest. previously served in the illinois state house after being elected in 2018, longtime community organizer, wife of a daca recipient. next, we look at ranked choice voting. it was on the ballot in many cities and shaped the outcome of the senate race in alaska. stay with us. ♪♪ [music break]

amy: "divino maravilhoso" by gal costa. died wednesday at the age of 77 after a career that spanned over five decades.

brazil's president posted on instagram that costa was one of the best singers in the world, one of the artist who brought the sound of brazil to the entire planet. he says the country lost one of their great voices today. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. we look now at how voters expanded the choice of election methods known as rank-choice voting. rank-choice voting was available in the data and also shaped the races where it is already in place. supporters say ranked choice voting could reduce polarization and extremity in politics, and give more voice to independent voters, among other things. in nevada, a yes vote leaves that would change the system of elections to a system of nonpartisan primaries that allows voters to choose candidates from any party. after the primary, ranked-choice general elections would let voters rank their top five candidates who advanced. meanwhile in maine's largest city of portland, and evanston,

illinois, voters backed measures to use ranked choice voting in city elections. in alaska, the states rank-choice voting will decide the winner of the race in the senate race when neither candidate received 50% of the vote. voters in alaska approved the new systems in 2020, and the 2022 august special election was the first time they were used in the state. in that election, democrat mary peltola beat the former governor and 2008 republican vice presidential candidate sarah palin to fill the state's open u.s. congressional seat. peltola campaigned on reproductive rights, and will make history as the first alaska native in congress. for more, we are joined by george cheung, who has been following all of this closely. you have said rank-choice voting is a necessary step in the unsex

y critical work of crash proofing our democracy. could you explain what you mean? assume that people have not even heard of rank-choice voting. george: thank you for having me, i'm excited to be here. currently, we in the u.s. currently use a system for our elections called winner take all with plurality rules. meaning, candidate whoever has e most votes on election day winds that election. which means they plurality cod win, a majority could look for a different candidate. rank-choice voting is a ballot style and tabulation method in which voters get to rank their choices, let's say one through five, or as many candidates as there are on the ballot.

if someone receives a majority of votes, then the election is over. if there isn't, usually the last-place candidate is eliminated, and those votes are reallocated to those voter's second choices. that process repeats itself. in terms of the actual reform, the best version arrived choice voting is when you don't actually have a primary. when you have lots of choices in the general election for voters to choose on with high turnout, and therefore, you get the most voice for those voters. amy: explain what happened in alaska so that people can really understand how this played out. george: in alaska, which recently approved rank-choice

voting. in the primary, you would choose a candidate, and then based on the results of the primary four candidates, go to the general election. you had three fairly high-profile candidates with lots of name recognition, and then voters would wreck their choices. there was a lot of enthusiasm for mary peltola, native alaskan, who ended up getting the most number of votes. but it looks like she did not get the majority. however, voters, because there is rank-choice voting in alaska, were able to rank their choices. it may play out similarly to the special election. the bottom vote-getter will be eliminated, and those votes will be reallocated to other candidates.

i believe representative peltola , in office now, campaigned in a way that engaged voters deeply. if you do not want to vote for me for your first choice, vote for me for your second choice. that is also a benefit of wreck choice voting. it forces candidates to really engage all voters, as opposed to saying, if you will not vote for me, i will just move on to the next voter. amy: talk about portland, maine, and evanston, illinois. george: one important thing to know, there are different versions of rank-choice voting. we need to know that we use a system called winner take all. this is an old system that dates back to the 1400's. beginning in the 1800s, there

were big reforms, as the franchise began to expand to people who didn't have well, women, people of color, many american cities ended up doing reforms in the late 1800s, early 1900s. that really stopped by the time of world war ii and the red scare. a lot of people of color and progressives darted to get elected. what is exciting in portland, oregon is the story of communities of color, led by a coalition of communities of color in portland, oregon. there was a lot of frustration about the city government. it was elected all at-large, which met that you had to run a congressional race to win. there was a really meaningful

chart review process run by the city where communities of color have a leadership role in educating themselves about the implications of electoral change, engaging deeply to deliberate on what reforms they wanted to see, and came out with a recommendation that 17 out of the 20 commissioners agreed, to put rank-choice voting on the ballot, a form known as proportional representation. that went to the ballot. on election night, the results showed that the charter reform was winning by about 10 points, 55-45. the form of the reform would create four multimember districts with rank-choice voting. that means you only need 25% of the vote chair to win one of those seats. this will open doors for communities of color, low income people, renters to be fully represented in that legislative

body. in terms of historical context, this form i rank-choice voting has not been enacted since new york city did in the mid-1930's. amy: talk about what happened in seattle, washington. george: seattle, washington had rank-choice voting as well as approval voting on the ballot. this was being promoted by -- amy: explain the difference between rank-choice voting and approval voting. george: approval voting is a different system in which you gave a facebook like or a thumbs up to the candidates that you want. approval voting supporters gathered enough signatures to put it on the ballot. city council, given there was not a deep deliberative process, like they did in portland,

decided it was important to have a choice, so they put it side-by-side with approval voting. so there were two questions. shall there be change in the system of elections? if there is a change, should it be approval or rank-choice voting? the first question of should there be a change, still 50/50, and we will not know the outcome for a couple of days. in terms of approval voting, which many, includingyself, believe could dilute the voting rights of communities of color versus rank-choice voting, which has allowed for more voices of communities of color, voters supported rank-choice voting by a margin of 3-1. we are excited that proportional rank-choice voting is getting steam in this country. amy: you now have rank-choice voting in two state elections,

alaska and maine, and tent cities. who are the forces for rank-choice voting, and who is fighting against it? george: i would say the forces for rank-choice voting are people who really care about democracy. we know that our democracy is in danger, is fragile. people from all walks of life are coming out of the woodwork to really think deeply about what is at stake, starting to have conversations at the local level about how we can strengthen democracy so that we all have choices that reflect who we are. who is really opposed to it are the powers that be. the current system of winner take all, play rapidly elections, really favor fringe elements on the right in

particular who have been able to dominate the redistricting process, to draw districts that favor incumbents and their own party, are really nervous about any change. what is important to know, rank-choice voting and proportional does not favor any particular party, but essentially a system that allows for a truer representation of who we are as a community. amy: do you see any chance of a presidential election being rank-choice voting? george: i think about winner take all elections as an old car that your grandmother gave to you in high school. sure, you can change the ignition, rotate the tires, but in the end, it is an old car.

ultimately you will have to buy a new car. amy: are you comparing rank-choice voting to an electric car? george: we are using a system that's been in place since the 1400's with very little change. as we become a multiracial society, we need rules that reflect that. frankly speaking, winner take all elections with plurality rule are just at odds with achieving a multiracial democracy. amy: george cheung, thank you for being with us. the director of more equitable democracy. up next, carbon billing errors. stay with us. -- carbon billionaires.

♪♪ [music break] amy: “aquamarine” by danger mouse & black thought, featuring michael kiwanuka. this is democracy now!,

democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. as president biden arrives at the climate summit in sharm el-sheikh, heading to the g20 meetings, a new analysis looks at the investments of 125 of the richest billionaires and reveals on average they are admitting 3 million tons a year of carbon. more than one million times the average person. the report isitled " "carbon biionaires." it suggest a wealth tax could help the climate needs of developing countries. for more, we go to london, where we are joined by the co-author, ashfaq khalfan. tell us who the climate billionaires are and just how much carbon dioxide they are emitting. ashfaq: they represent household

names, you can imagine who they are. we looked at the 20 richest people and assessed which one of them -- there was data from admissions from their investmes. these were not admissions from their personal lifestyle but from where they decide to put their money. we find they tend to invest more in polluting industries then clean industries, twice the average investor. the amount admitted by one of these average billionaires is the equivalent of four million people going vegan, reducing their emissions. or fly around the earth 16 million times in a private jet. we were surprised.

it just goes to show how much power and control a few people have over our economic system. and beyond that, our way of life, our survival as humanity. amy: as you say, the investment 125 billionaires produced 393 million metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions every year, equivalent co2 output of the entire country of france. the annual billionaires average emissions one million times higher than people in the poorest 90% of the worlds population. number one, how is this curbed? number two, what is oxfam, releasing this report during the climate summit where we will be broadcasting live from all week in charnel shake -- what are you

demanding? what do you think can change the course of who is destroying the planet and how to turn that around? ashfaq: the answer lies with government. they have the power to regulate government -- the people in a couple of ways. one is through a wealth tax. that will actually raise money, reduce the extent of the control of the billionaires. it could raise something like $1.4 trillion a year. that is a significant amount. that could pay for the annual requirements to help poorer countries adapt to climate change, protect the people from climate change, repair the harms caused, repairing schools,

helping people rebuild their lives, and contribute to the transition to removal energy across the world. that could be done just with the both tax. not only recommending that. we are recommending a tax on the profits from fossil fuels, corporate taxes as well as earnings of billionaires. not a temporary tax but permanent, would create an incentive for these billionaires to shift their funds to cleaner sources of energy. actually, they should be funding the renewable energy revolution. they are not doing that. governments have the power to leverage these changes. they can also require companies to reduce their admissions, --

emissions, ship to science-based targets, even report their emissions. and these are only their reported emissions, only what they report. this does not include emissions from their products. we are taking a very conservative approach. it is an unfair estimate. it does not include the policies that billionaires are pushing in terms of their funding of politicians, what they ask politicians to do when they pick up the phone. amy: you tweeted about what the u.s. climate ambassador john kerry has just announced at the u.s. climate summit. the whole biden team has just arrived at sharm el-sheikh. wednesday was fine and stay at cop27. kerry took the opportunity to make a pitch to help developing economies transition from coal to clean energy, proposing a new

carbon market, a way for corporations to decommission coal plants and fund wind and solar plants in exchange for credits that can be used to bolster their green image. there is also a lot of criticism of this. ashfaq: that's right. first of all, it is good that he is trying to do that, but he is going about it the wrong way. those carbon credits are illusory. it will not generate anything like the amount of money required to fund the transition. carbon credits, there is a long history of them being a mirage, using them as false solutions, to avoid and delay action. there is no reason to believe that this would be any different.

it is really a pity that they are distracting from what they really need to do, which is to raise the public finance, which is needed. if the government put on the table a significant amount of public finance, that will draw in the private financing that is needed. that is the way it needs to be done. during cop, and you will see this next week when you are there, secretary kerry keeps talking about how difficult it is to get the money out of congress. he said a couple of times, if the republicans win congress, that will be the end of climate finance. it is a pity that he is talking down what can be achieved. and he is proposing alternative solutions that could then be taken up by those opposed to the international climate finance.

unfortunately, will not work. we don't have time to see it not work. it is to urgent. we have to provide the money quickly and soon. we are saying, secretary kerry, president biden have to make climate finance nonnegotiable in congress. they can be strong when they want to, they have done it before. they need to do so now. it may seem technical or something remote from the concerns of the average american, but average americans know the climate crisis will affect them and everybody else. climate finance is necessary. we will not be able to protect people across the world if developing countries don't have the resources they need to shift to undoable energy. it is existential for everyone,

a worthwhile investment to be making. amy: i wanted to ask you about this new ap report that says the war inspired natural gas boom is undermining already efforts to limit warming to just a few tenths of a degree. planning and building up of five natural gas due to an energy crisis triggered by russia's invasion of ukraine would add 2 billion tons of carbon dioxide equivalent a year to the air by 2030, according to a report that came out of climate action tracker at that you and climate summit -- un climate summit in sharm el-sheikh. your response? ashfaq: absolutely right, and great that you are talking about this. it is a real worry. there is a gas shortage in europe. that is genuine. there are energy needs every

day, and those need to be met. what is pretty despicable is seeing a lot of fossil fuel interest take advantage of that, to promote growth, which is not necessary to meet the urgent needs of today. coming online in the next few years but will exist in a decade as carbon assets that will be used. governments should really be doubling down on energy efficiency, on the switch to renewables, insulating homes, things that can be done really quickly within six months timeframe. reducing that energy demand. providing everybody with the support, the information, subsidies that are required to

do that. that is the solution to this natural gas crisis. it is really disappointing that in the united states we see permitting reform being pushed as a solution. it is a false solution, one that will safeguard fossil fuel interests, including carbon billionaires, many of whom are pushing these changes at the expense of communities whose rights will be harmed. amy: have any of the carbon billionaires responded to your report? ashfaq: not that i am aware of. amy: thank you so much for being with us. the climate director at oxfam america, co-author of the new report "carbon billionaires." he was being to us from london. democracynow is heading to sharm el-sheikh, where all next week

we will be covering the u.n. climate summit, bring you reports on the ground coming from inside and outside the summit. that does it for our show. democracy now! is produced with renee feltz, mike burke, deena guzder, messiah rhodes, nermeen shaikh, maria taracena, tami woronoff, charina nadura, sam alcoff, tey marie astudillo,