Small coalitions could unlock $66 bn a year to fight climate change: Study

Business Standard

30-07-2025

New research from the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK) suggests that smaller alliances of fossil fuel-importing countries could raise up to $66 billion every year to help developing nations reduce emissions.
This approach, the study says, would not increase costs for consumers and could be a realistic way to support global climate goals, news agency PTI reported.
At the COP29 summit in Baku, Azerbaijan, held in November 2024, countries agreed on a new goal to raise $300 billion per year by 2035 for climate finance. There is also a broader target of mobilising $1.3 trillion from both public and private sources. However, the agreement did not include any concrete plan on how this money would be raised.
Several countries are proposing different types of levies to support climate funding:
-Brazil and other nations are supporting a 2 per cent global wealth tax on billionaires, which could generate up to $250 billion annually.
-The International Maritime Organisation (IMO) has approved a carbon dioxide fee of $100 per tonne on shipping emissions starting in 2027. This could bring in $13 billion per year.
Fossil fuel levies could raise $66 billion annually
According to the PIK study, countries working together on fossil fuel import taxes could generate $66 billion a year to help lower-income countries shift to cleaner energy. If levies also covered emissions from international flights and shipping, the total could reach $200 billion per year.
'Governments are facing tightening fiscal space and are grappling with the question of where the money for international climate finance will come from. Smaller coalitions of countries cooperating on different kinds of levies could go a long way to solve the problem, without extra cost to consumers,' said Ottmar Edenhofer, PIK Director and lead author of the study, as quoted by PTI.
EU-China cooperation could be a game-changer
The research also shows that cooperation between large importers like the European Union and China could significantly boost climate finance. In one scenario, EU-China collaboration would quadruple the funds raised compared to what either could generate on its own.
Consumers could also benefit from this cooperation, as lower global fuel prices would balance out any price increases from the levies.
The study estimates that such collaboration could deliver:
-$66 billion yearly for emission reductions in developing nations
-$33 billion in net gains for those countries
-$78 billion in avoided climate damages
-$19 billion in annual fossil fuel savings
India achieves non-fossil power target
India has reached its target of 50 per cent non-fossil fuel-based power capacity five years prior to its 2030 deadline, Minister of New and Renewable Energy Pralhad Joshi announced earlier this month.
Out of a total 484.8 GW installed capacity, 242.8 GW now comes from non-fossil sources. India has also set a goal of generating 500 GW from renewable energy by 2030.
Fossil fuel combustion kills 1,500
In a separate study, scientists found that about 1,500 people died during the heatwave in the first week of July in Europe, solely because of climate change.
'These people would not have died if it had not been for our burning of oil, coal and gas in the last century,' said Friederike Otto, a climate scientist at Imperial College London and co-author of the study.
Researchers from Imperial College and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine used peer-reviewed methods to estimate that 2,300 people died across 12 cities due to the heat. Nearly two-thirds of these deaths were directly linked to higher temperatures caused by climate change. Of the 1,500 climate-related deaths, over 1,100 were people aged 75 or older, the study found.