Reliance Industries Ltd’s billionaire chairman Mukesh Ambani could use part of his wealth to buy all the carbon credits required to offset all domestic greenhouse gas emissions in the country over a year, and still have money to spare. The index seeks to answer a simple question: Could a handful of the world’s richest people giving away their wealth make a real impact on climate change? Only in China and Brazil is the biggest fortune too small to “clear the air” for a year. Companies can then buy these credits, allowing them to pollute, or sell them, making a profit if they clean up. Moreover, his $2.9 billion fortune, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, would theoretically be enough for only 8% of the country’s required credits.

Source: Mint July 27, 2017 06:56 UTC