London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Friday, Aug 22, 2025

Billionaires and celebs are right to fear climate change

Billionaires and celebs are right to fear climate change

Don’t you just hate being preached to about climate change by people who pollute way more than you? To mark the end of COP26, we look at some of the wealthy A-listers who could bear the brunt of the impending doom.

It’ll be obvious when humanity has truly lost the climate change game. You know how?

All those preachy COP26 multi-billionaires and the sermonising celebs who travel in their slipstream will start to sell off their beachfront houses.

Why?

Well, the first places that are gonna be washed away in this creeping Armageddon are those closest to sea level, those super expensive yet garish waterfront properties beloved by your average billionaire and Hollywood star.

Not that you’d ever get to see these places, mind you. They tend to be behind a HUGE wall, with security cameras and heavily armed guards. So don’t go paddling towards any of their gates when the seas rise – just like any self-respecting Bond villain, you’ll only be able to get in by helicopter, private jet, or one of their absurd toy rocket ships.

Oh, and by yacht. Those luxury tubs will come in handy, eh? Just like Noah and his Ark, they’ll be able to drop anchor on a mountain. Cool!

Never mind that all their machines and gadgets and toys spew out toxic gases that are choking our children and grandchildren – the mega-rich are not so worried about that, either, is my guess. When the time comes, their offspring will breathe purified air and they’ll pump out their CO2 for any survivor plebs like the progeny of you and I to enjoy, from a big funnel atop their mountains.

All these billionaire blokes – and it IS mostly men – seem to know how to read a market and therefore turn a profit. You can be damn sure whenever you walk down the street, flick a switch, look at your phone, buy anything, fill your car with petrol, turn on a TV, get online – whatever – one of these guys is getting their slice.

There are, according to Forbes moneybags magazine, almost 3,000 billionaires on planet Earth. Chances are you’ve never actually met one of these people, but it’s a racing certainty at least one of them has had his fat little hand in your pocket today. In fact, every day.

So, here’s a random look at some of the mega-wealthy A-listers with most to fear from the impending implosion. Keep your eye on this crowd, because when they run for the hills, we’re all doomed...

Jeff Bezos


The day that weird, squiff-eyed alien and multi-billionaire Jeff Bezos sells his remote island home on Maui, Hawaii, you know the game’s up, peeps. It cost him $78 million and is very much surrounded by water.

Though he seems to be making plans to depart the Earth back to whichever planet he came from on his own rocket, he pledged $2 billion at the COP26 summit to help save the world. Nice. His Amazon online shopping empire has grown at just about the same rate as the Amazon rainforest has shrunk.

Bezos bounces back and forth between first and second spot on the world’s rich list with Elon Musk and is worth somewhere around $200 billion. So, a couple of billion bucks is bobbins for Bezos really, when you think about it.

READ MORE: Doctor diagnoses elderly woman with a case of ‘CLIMATE CHANGE’

Maybe he shouldn’t invite the next guy on the list around for supper on Maui, though, seeing as his partner Lauren Sanchez seems to be rather besotted with the guy...

Leonardo DiCaprio


OK, OK, he’s not a billionaire. But Hollywood megastar Leo DiCaprio recently splashed out a hefty $13.8 million for a seafront getaway on Malibu. Leo, who is probably the guru of all preachy celebrities, actually once owned three pads beside the California beach beloved by the rich and famous.

He blessed Glasgow with his glowing presence as a United Nations climate change ambassador, and has tried to do his bit to highlight the oncoming doom. Leo even made a speech at the Oscars in 2016 saying climate change was “the most urgent threat facing our entire species.”

Dunno about you, but I’d listen to Leo over climate scientists and their boring data any day.

A whole host of other A-list celebs


It’s not just DiCaprio who faces having his pretty waterfront home washed away: LOADS of celebrities are his neighbours in Malibu. And while not all have been as vocal as Leo on the danger of climate change, you can bet they’ll pack up pretty sharpish when the water levels start rising.

Mel Gibson, Jennifer Aniston, Louis Tomlinson, Charlize Theron, Will Smith, Simon Cowell, Cher, Beyoncé and Jay Z, Barbra Streisand, Pink, Kenny G, Julia Roberts, Kid Rock, Bob Dylan, Lady Gaga, Dustin Hoffman, Cindy Crawford… the list goes on.

Maybe they could share a raft?

Of course, other coastal destinations are available. Singer Rihanna has a $22 million gaff on Barbados, the Caribbean island where she was born. And there’s even a row of celebrity-owned seaside homes near not-so-sunny Brighton in the UK. Sir Paul McCartney, Adele, Fat Boy Slim, and David Walliams are all occasional neighbours. Though they’ve all yet to be seen together sitting on deckchairs in the rain.

Sir Richard Branson


Like Jeff Bezos, Sir Richard Branson has his own plans for heading into space. And Sir Dick reckons anyone who criticises him for spewing toxic fumes so rich people can go on their jollies a few miles up from sea level is, well, a bit thick.

The founder of Virgin Records/airline/shops/banking etc doesn’t seem to be all that worried about future floods, though. He has long owned the private Necker Island in the British Virgin Islands and has reportedly added a second clump of Mother Earth called Moskito Island to his portfolio.

Necker is also beloved by celebrities, having been graced by the likes of Mariah Carey, Kate Winslet, Oprah Winfrey, Jimmy Fallon, and David Beckham. You can rent the entire island for $42,000 a night, or just slum it and rent a villa for $27,000 a week.

A bargain. So long as the seas don’t rise while you’re there. Or you’re hit by a hurricane.

Harry and Meghan


The Duke and Duchess of Sussex – Harry and Meg – don’t quite live on the coast. But they LOVE to preach. Free from the shackles of the British royal family, they now spend their time telling the rest of us how to live.

Prince Harry spoke of his climate change concerns (like most of the royals these days) in the Apple TV+ special called ‘The Me You Can’t See: A Path Forward’.

“With kids growing up in today’s world, pretty depressing, right, depending on where you live, your home country is either on fire, it’s either underwater, houses or forests are being flattened,” Harry said.

“Climate change is really playing a huge part in this as well as social media, and we just don’t – well, I mean, I know lots of people out there are doing as best they can to try and fix these issues – but that whole sort of analogy of walking into the bathroom with a mop when the bath is over-flooding, rather than just turning the tap off…”

Etcetera.

At least they can do their preaching in comfort, for now, in their modest and environmentally sympathetic, nine-bedroom, 16-bathroom $14.65 million home in the town of Montecito, near Santa Barbara on the west coast of the USA. Neighbours include Oprah Winfrey, Ellen DeGeneres, Gwyneth Paltrow, Ariana Grande, and Natalie Portman.

Montecito is beside the ocean, yet it seems quite hilly really. So maybe the Sussexes won’t need to paddle the 90 minutes home from Los Angeles quite as soon as some other big names.

Elon Musk


Now Elon Musk, the boss of SpaceX and electric car maker Tesla, strikes me as a billionaire with his eye on the ball. He may bounce back and forth for top spot on the rich list with Jeff Bezos, but I reckon Musk can see into the future.

He recently sold off his California property portfolio for $100 million and is now living in a tiny rented $50,000 prefab house near his SpaceX headquarters in Texas.

I wonder if it floats?

Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
After 200,000 Orders in 2 Minutes: Xiaomi Accelerates Marketing in Europe
Ukraine Declares De Facto War on Hungary and Slovakia with Terror Drone Strikes on Their Gas Lifeline
Animated K-pop Musical ‘KPop Demon Hunters’ Becomes Netflix’s Most-Watched Original Animated Film
New York Appeals Court Voids Nearly $500 Million Civil Fraud Penalty Against Trump While Upholding Fraud Liability
Elon Musk tweeted, “Europe is dying”
Far-Right Activist Convicted of Incitement Changes Gender and Demands: "Send Me to a Women’s Prison" | The Storm in Germany
Hungary Criticizes Ukraine: "Violating Our Sovereignty"
Will this be the first country to return to negative interest rates?
Child-free hotels spark controversy
North Korea is where this 95-year-old wants to die. South Korea won’t let him go. Is this our ally or a human rights enemy?
Hong Kong Launches Regulatory Regime and Trials for HKD-Backed Stablecoins
China rehearses September 3 Victory Day parade as imagery points to ‘loyal wingman’ FH-97 family presence
Trump Called Viktor Orbán: "Why Are You Using the Veto"
Horror in the Skies: Plane Engine Exploded, Passengers Sent Farewell Messages
MSNBC Rebrands as MS NOW Amid Comcast’s Cable Spin-Off
AI in Policing: Draft One Helps Speed Up Reports but Raises Legal and Ethical Concerns
Shame in Norway: Crown Princess’s Son Accused of Four Rapes
Apple Begins Simultaneous iPhone 17 Production in India and China
A Robot to Give Birth: The Chinese Announcement That Shakes the World
Finnish MP Dies by Suicide in Parliament Building
Outrage in the Tennis World After Jannik Sinner’s Withdrawal Storm
William and Kate Are Moving House – and the New Neighbors Were Evicted
Class Action Lawsuit Against Volkswagen: Steering Wheel Switches Cause Accidents
Taylor Swift on the Way to the Super Bowl? All the Clues Stirring Up Fans
Dogfights in the Skies: Airbus on Track to Overtake Boeing and Claim Aviation Supremacy
Tim Cook Promises an AI Revolution at Apple: "One of the Most Significant Technologies of Our Generation"
Apple Expands Social Media Presence in China With RedNote Account Ahead of iPhone 17 Launch
Are AI Data Centres the Infrastructure of the Future or the Next Crisis?
Cambridge Dictionary Adds 'Skibidi,' 'Delulu,' and 'Tradwife' Amid Surge of Online Slang
Bill Barr Testifies No Evidence Implicated Trump in Epstein Case; DOJ Set to Release Records
Zelenskyy Returns to White House Flanked by European Allies as Trump Pressures Land-Swap Deal with Putin
The CEO Who Replaced 80% of Employees for the AI Revolution: "I Would Do It Again"
Emails Worth Billions: How Airlines Generate Huge Profits
Character.ai Bets on Future of AI Companionship
China Ramps Up Tax Crackdown on Overseas Investments
Japanese Office Furniture Maker Expands into Bomb Shelter Market
Intel Shares Surge on Possible U.S. Government Investment
Hurricane Erin Threatens U.S. East Coast with Dangerous Surf
EU Blocks Trade Statement Over Digital Rule Dispute
EU Sends Record Aid as Spain Battles Wildfires
JPMorgan Plans New Canary Wharf Tower
Zelenskyy and his allies say they will press Trump on security guarantees
Beijing is moving into gold and other assets, diversifying away from the dollar
Escalating Clashes in Serbia as Anti-Government Protests Spread Nationwide
The Drought in Britain and the Strange Request from the Government to Delete Old Emails
Category 5 Hurricane in the Caribbean: 'Catastrophic Storm' with Winds of 255 km/h
"No, Thanks": The Mathematical Genius Who Turned Down 1.5 Billion Dollars from Zuckerberg
The surprising hero, the ugly incident, and the criticism despite victory: "Liverpool’s defense exposed in full"
Digital Humans Move Beyond Sci-Fi: From Virtual DJs to AI Customer Agents
YouTube will start using AI to guess your age. If it’s wrong, you’ll have to prove it
×