The Reading / Listening - Billionaires' CO2 Emissions - Level 1

Business, homes and cows are damaging the environment. A new report from a charity said billionaires also damage the environment. The lifestyles of the world's richest people create a lot more CO2 than the average person. The average billionaire creates three million metric tons of carbon dioxide per year. This is a million times more than what the average person creates. Billionaires create as much CO2 as the whole country of France.

Luxury yachts, mansions and private jets mean billionaires have a huge carbon footprint. The charity spoke at the COP 27 climate conference in Egypt. It said: "The…growing responsibility of wealthy people for overall emissions is rarely discussed…in climate policy making. This has to change." It added: "These billionaire investors…have a huge responsibility for driving climate breakdown. They have escaped accountability for too long."

Try the same news story at these levels:

    Billionaires' CO2 Emissions - Level 0 Billionaires' CO2 Emissions - Level 2   or  Billionaires' CO2 Emissions - Level 3

Sources
  • https://edition.cnn.com/2022/11/07/world/billionaires-greenhouse-gases-climate-intl
  • https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2022/nov/07/super-richs-carbon-investment-emissions-equivalent-to-whole-of-france
  • https://www.commondreams.org/news/2022/11/07/single-billionaire-produces-million-times-more-emissions-average-person-oxfam


Make sure you try all of the online activities for this reading and listening - There are dictations, multiple choice activities, drag and drop activities, sentence jumbles, which word activities, text reconstructions, spelling, gap fills and a whole lot more. Please enjoy :-)

Phrase Matching

Paragraph 1

  1. cows are damaging
  2. A new report
  3. damage the
  4. the world's richest
  5. create a lot
  6. the average
  7. three million
  8. carbon
  1. metric tons
  2. people
  3. dioxide
  4. the environment
  5. person
  6. from a charity
  7. more CO2
  8. environment

Paragraph 2

  1. Luxury
  2. private
  3. carbon
  4. the COP 27 climate
  5. growing
  6. wealthy
  7. climate
  8. for too
  1. breakdown
  2. footprint
  3. responsibility
  4. long
  5. jets
  6. conference
  7. people
  8. yachts

Listening — Listen and fill in the gaps

Business, homes (1) ___________________ damaging the environment. A new (2) ___________________ charity said billionaires (3) ___________________ environment. The lifestyles of the world's richest people create a lot more CO2 than (4) ___________________. The average billionaire creates three million metric tons of carbon (5) ___________________. This is a million times more than what the average person creates. Billionaires create as much CO2 (6) ___________________ country of France.

Luxury yachts, mansions and (7) ___________________ billionaires have (8) ___________________ footprint. The charity spoke at the COP 27 climate conference in Egypt. It said: "The...growing responsibility (9) ___________________ for overall emissions is rarely discussed... (10) ___________________ making. This has to change." It added: "These billionaire investors...have a huge responsibility (11) ___________________ breakdown. They have escaped accountability (12) ___________________."

Put a slash (/) where the spaces are

Business,homesandcowsaredamagingtheenvironment.Anewreport
fromacharitysaidbillionairesalsodamagetheenvironment.Thelifestyl
esoftheworld'srichestpeoplecreatealotmoreCO2thantheaverageper
son.Theaveragebillionairecreatesthreemillionmetrictonsofcarbondi
oxideperyear.Thisisamilliontimesmorethanwhattheaveragepersonc
reates.BillionairescreateasmuchCO2asthewholecountryofFrance.Lu
xuryyachts,mansionsandprivatejetsmeanbillionaireshaveahugecar
bonfootprint.ThecharityspokeattheCOP27climateconferenceinEgyp
t.Itsaid:"The...growingresponsibilityofwealthypeopleforoverallemis
sionsisrarelydiscussed...inclimatepolicymaking.Thishastochange."I
tadded:"Thesebillionaireinvestors...haveahugeresponsibilityfordriv
ingclimatebreakdown.Theyhaveescapedaccountabilityfortoolong."

Student survey

Write five GOOD questions about this topic in the table. Do this in pairs. Each student must write the questions on his / her own paper. When you have finished, interview other students. Write down their answers.

(Please look at page 12 of the PDF to see a photocopiable example of this activity.)

Discussion — Write your own questions

STUDENT A’s QUESTIONS (Do not show these to student B)

(a) ________________

(b) ________________

(c) ________________

(d) ________________

(e) ________________

(f) ________________

(g) ________________

(h) ________________

STUDENT B’s QUESTIONS (Do not show these to student A)

(i) ________________

(j) ________________

(k) ________________

(l) ________________

(m) ________________

(n) ________________

(o) ________________

(p) ________________

Free writing

Write about this topic for 10 minutes. Comment on your partner’s paper.

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Answers

(Please check your answers against the article above.

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