The world's richest are damaging the planet more than any other group of people.

This is News Review from BBC Learning English where we help you understand news headlines in English. I'm Neil.

And I'm Beth.

Make sure you watch to the end to learn all the vocabulary you need to talk about this story and to understand more about the world in English.

Don't forget to subscribe to our channel.

Now the story.

The richest 1% of people create the same amount of carbon as the poorest two-thirds in the world.

That's according to data published in a new report by charity Oxfam.

It found that the lifestyles of the wealthy such as taking frequent flights and eating out in restaurants are closely connected to climate change.

Oxfam's chief called for world leaders to end the era of extreme wealth.

You've been looking at the headlines, Beth, what's the vocabulary people need to understand this story in English?

We have "well-off," "plundering," and "clean up their acts."

This is News Review from BBC learning English.

Let's have a look at our first headline.

This is from the Guardian: Restaurants, pets and holidays: how UK's well-off have outsized carbon footprints.

So this headline is saying that the UK's well-off have outsized carbon footprint. Outsize means too big.

And your carbon footprint is the impact you have personally on the environment.

But we are looking at the word "well-off."

We are, and well-off means rich and it's an adjective. It might look like a phrasal verb because it has two parts and that second part is off, but it's an adjective.

Now, this headline says that the well-off, that's the rich and wealthy are having a worse impact on the environment.

We have these words, rich and wealthy already.

So why do we need well-off?

What's the difference?

Well, it's a bit softer and it sounds more polite than rich, which isn't always a positive thing.

And a similar but even softer way of saying well-off is comfortable.

That's a word you already know.

But it's a slightly different meaning here.

Yes.

And then the other extreme is this word loaded.

It means extremely well-off, extremely rich.

And it's not that polite.

It's very direct.

Let's look at that again.

Let's have our next headline.

This is from the Washington Post: World's richest 1% 'plundering' the planet, Oxfam report says.

We're looking at the word "plundering."

Now, Beth, when I hear this word plundering, I think of thieves or pirates stealing things, treasure.

Well, yeah, that's right.

The literal meaning of plunder is taking things that don't belong to you by force.

Now, in this headline, the richest are plundering the planet.

So Neil, does that mean that the richest are stealing things by force?

Well, not exactly, but by choosing the word plunder, the writer is suggesting that what the rich are doing is wrong.

The sense is that they are using resources that actually should be shared more equally amongst people.

And that word plunder, they actually took from the Oxfam report to support their opinion.

What other words for steal can we use?

Well, there's nick and pinch.

They're both a bit informal, though.

Has anyone ever nicked your phone?

No, nobody has ever nicked my phone.

But, it looks like someone is trying to pinch my wallet, Beth.

Let's look at that again.

Let's have our next headline.

This is from the Herald: Yousaf urged to use budgets for richest Scots to "clean up their acts."

So campaigners in Scotland want the richest to clean up their act, and "clean up their act" is the expression that we're looking at.

This word, act, I recognize from the theater like Shakespeare. "To be or not to be."

No, no stop, stop.

That's not the act we're talking about here.

Here, act means behavior, and clean up your act means make your behavior better, improve it.

Yes.

And although the expression has the word clean in it, it's not really about cleaning.

It means to improve.

So the campaigners want the rich.

So the campaigners want the rich to do better when it comes to climate change.

I was going to say that. That's my line. You need to clean up your act.

I really do.

Let's look at that again.

We've had "well-off"- rich.

"Plundering" - taking what doesn't belong to you.

And clean up their act - improve their behavior.

Now, if you enjoyed this episode and want to learn more about this topic, watch this episode of News Review where we asked can flying ever be green.

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Thanks for joining us.

Bye. - Bye.