Latest news with #GlobalSolidarityLeviesTaskForce
Scoop
19 hours ago
- Business
- Scoop
Alliance Of Climate Civil Society Organisations Rally In Seville For Global Levies To Make Polluters Pay
30 June, Seville, Spain — A global coalition of civil society leaders, including Global Citizen, the Glasgow Action Team and Greenpeace International, have rallied this morning outside the FIBES Conference Center in Seville, where world leaders gather for the 4th UN International Conference on Financing for Development (FfD4). Their message: No more free riders. It's time for polluters and the ultra-rich to pay their fair share. The rally centered around a bold new demand for Solidarity Levies—international taxes on fossil fuels, aviation, shipping, financial transactions, and billionaires—to fund climate resilience and equitable development in countries most affected by climate change. The action accompanies an open letter signed by more than 47 NGOs – representing 231 organisations – underscoring the broad and diverse backing for the call to Make Polluters Pay. The rally centered around a large banner declaring 'Make Polluters Pay: Solidarity Levies Now,' alongside placards and powerful street visuals, including Spanish-inspired traffic signs to highlight the responsibility of highly polluting sectors. The coalition is urging world leaders at FFD4 to adopt taxes and fines on the world's most polluting industries for fueling storms, floods, heat waves, drought and wildfires, as well as other climate related disasters. World governments are also encouraged to join the Global Solidarity Levies Task Force, led by Barbados, France and Kenya, and backed by governments and institutions like the UN, IMF, and African Union. The goal: to raise much needed revenue to fight against climate change and support development and nature through international levies that reflect the responsibility of polluters and elites. 'The richest individuals and dirtiest industries are profiting while the planet burns,' said Andrew Nazdin, Director of the Glasgow Actions Team. 'Solidarity levies are not only fair — they're necessary for a liveable future.' 'We must hold oil and gas corporations to account for the enormous damage they cause,' said Rebecca Newsom, Global Political Lead for Greenpeace's Stop Drilling, Start Paying campaign. 'As fossil fuel barons rake in obscene profits, and people are battered with increasingly violent floods, storms and wildfires, it's no surprise that 8 out of 10 people support making them pay. Members of the Global Solidarity Levies Task Force and rich countries around the world should act upon this enormous public mandate: commit to higher taxes on fossil fuel profits and extraction by COP30, while ensuring that those being hit hardest by the climate crisis around the world benefit most from the revenues.' 'Right now, world leaders face a clear choice: will they do what's fair and necessary?' said Michael Sheldrick, Co-Founder of Global Citizen. 'Citizens across major economies — from the U.S. to the EU to Brazil — are on board. They want action to fix the climate crisis and support the communities being hit the hardest. The ask is simple: those most responsible for the damage should help pay for the solutions. Over 55,000 global citizens have already backed this call. It's not about politics — it's about fairness, and securing a better future for all of us.' Louise Hutchins, from Make Polluters Pay Coalition said, 'If we're serious about ending the debt crisis in the Global South and halting climate breakdown, we need a global financial system that holds those driving the crisis to account - starting by making the big polluters pay. For 50 years, oil and gas giants have raked in $1 trillion a year while driving devastating climate damage. The emissions of the richest 1% is more than that of half of the world combined. Success at this summit means ending this grotesque state of affairs.' The rally follows a march of thousands across the streets of Seville on Sunday night and is part of a broader week of action at the FfD4, where campaigners are calling for debt cancellation, progressive global taxation, and a finance system that puts people and the planet first. The Vatican's advocacy arm bolstered these messages with a live mural, installed in the heart of Seville, calling for a solution to debt injustice. Campaigners are demanding urgent steps to dismantle illegitimate debt burdens, establish a UN-based framework for debt resolution, and stop the influence of powerful nations and institutions that continue to impose economic domination over the Global South.
Free Malaysia Today
a day ago
- Business
- Free Malaysia Today
France, Spain, others agree to tax premium flyers, private jets
The initiative gains backing from France, Kenya, Spain, Barbados, Sierra Leone, Benin and Somalia. (AP pic) SEVILLE : A group of countries including France, Kenya, Spain and Barbados pledged on Monday to tax premium-class flying and private jets in a bid to raise funds for climate action and sustainable development. As many richer nations scale back official development aid for countries even as extreme weather events increase in frequency and severity, some are looking to find new sources of finance, including by taxing polluting industries. The announcement on the opening day of a UN development summit in Seville, Spain, was one of the first to emerge from the 'Sevilla Platform for Action' that aims to deliver on the renewed global financing framework agreed upon ahead of the event. 'The aim is to help improve green taxation and foster international solidarity by promoting more progressive and harmonised tax systems,' the office of Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said in a statement. The initiative, which was co-signed by Sierra Leone, Benin and Somalia, will get technical support from the European Commission, it added. All are members of the Global Solidarity Levies Task Force, launched in November 2023 to explore new forms of taxation that could help support developing countries' efforts to decarbonise and protect themselves against the impacts of climate change. As well as an aviation tax, which could raise billions of dollars, the task force said in a recent report that other sectors that could potentially be taxed more include shipping, oil and gas, cryptocurrencies and the super-rich. Rebecca Newsom of the environmentalist group Greenpeace called the move 'an important step towards ensuring that the binge users of this undertaxed sector are made to pay their fair share'. She added that the 'obvious' next step was to hold oil and gas corporations to account.
Straits Times
a day ago
- Business
- Straits Times
France, Spain, others agree to tax premium flyers, private jets
SEVILLE, Spain - A group of countries including France, Kenya, Spain and Barbados pledged on Monday to tax premium-class flying and private jets in a bid to raise funds for climate action and sustainable development. As many richer nations scale back official development aid for countries even as extreme weather events increase in frequency and severity, some are looking to find new sources of finance, including by taxing polluting industries. The announcement on the opening day of a U.N. development summit in Seville, Spain, was one of the first to emerge from the "Sevilla Platform for Action" that aims to deliver on the renewed global financing framework agreed ahead of the event. "The aim is to help improve green taxation and foster international solidarity by promoting more progressive and harmonised tax systems," the office of Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said in a statement. The initiative, which was co-signed by Sierra Leone, Benin and Somalia, will get technical support from the European Commission, it added. All are members of the Global Solidarity Levies Task Force, launched in November 2023 to explore new forms of taxation that could help support developing countries' efforts to decarbonise and protect themselves against the impacts of climate change. As well as an aviation tax, which could raise billions of dollars, the task force said in a recent report that other sectors that could potentially be taxed more include shipping, oil and gas, cryptocurrencies and the super-rich. Rebecca Newsom of environmentalist group Greenpeace called the move "an important step towards ensuring that the binge users of this undertaxed sector are made to pay their fair share". She added that the "obvious" next step was to hold oil and gas corporations to account. REUTERS Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.
The Guardian
06-02-2025
- Politics
- The Guardian
There's a taskforce dreaming up radical climate solutions – and you can help
Fast, fair funding for critical climate action is desperately needed, and that makes the drive for levies on polluters and the ultrarich perhaps the most exciting climate idea floating around right now. The Global Solidarity Levies Task Force, an independent group of experts set up after Cop28, has now set out 16 specific ideas for consultation that could raise hundreds of billions of dollars a year to fight global heating, from taxes on cryptocurrencies to flying. The results will be presented to the world's governments at the Cop30 summit in Brazil in November. The good news is that many of the taxes already exist in some countries, making the prospect of a wide rollout less far-fetched than you may think. The even better news is that you can have your say during the public consultation stage. More on all this, after this week's top stories. Levels of microplastics in human brains may be rapidly rising, study suggests Climate change target of 2C is 'dead', says renowned climate scientist 'It's like solving a murder': who dumped 30 tonnes of rubbish on Lichfield? The first thing to say about the Global Solidarity Levies Task Force is that it is a serious operation. It is being driven by the leaders of France, Kenya and Barbados, has members including Denmark, Senegal and Colombia, and is partnered with the UN, World Bank, G20, European Commission and African Union. It's got clout. That matters, as the gap between the billions of dollars being mobilised to fight the climate crisis and the trillions needed is huge. The aim of the taskforce is both simple and potentially transformative: to use internationally coordinated levies to raise funds, penalise polluters and increase the fairness of the global tax system. The consultation sets out the pros and cons of each potential levy. You can read them and submit your thoughts here. The most obvious is the levy on the fossil fuels that cause global heating, but which currently enjoy $7tn in subsidies a year. The world's five biggest oil companies made a combined total of $281bn in profits in 2022-23 alone. The simplest fossil fuel levy the taskforce sets out is on extraction: $5 per tonne of CO2, rising by $5 every year to 2030. It could raise $1tn a year by 2035. Coal, oil and gas extraction is often already taxed, making it administratively simple. 'The power of the fossil fuel lobby would make this hard to achieve politically,' the taskforce rightly notes. 'However, each country that introduces the levy could gain a significant increase in tax revenue.' Flying – an elite, heavily polluting activity – is growing – just 1% of the world's population causes half of all aviation emissions. The taskforce puts forward a tax on tickets or on jet fuel for international flights, which is barely taxed at all today. The ticket tax may raise $100bn a year, the jet fuel levy $10bn. A frequent flyer tax is also being considered, with the levy rising with each flight, but this may require each passenger to have an ID number. Several countries have already used an aeroplane ticket levy to fund the fight against Aids and other diseases. Like aviation, the international shipping industry does not pay taxes proportional to the damage its pollution causes. But the International Maritime Organization already collects funds from operators to compensate for oil spills, and most countries already support a carbon levy. This could raise up to $127bn a year between 2027 and 2030. Plastic relies on fossil fuels, is emissions intensive and environmentally damaging, but there are currently no taxes at all levied on its producers. Ongoing negotiations on a global plastics treaty include a levy proposal, which would raise about $30bn a year. There are relatively few plastic producers, which would make it easier to collect this tax. The impact on people's pockets would also be small, as the cost of primary polymers is a fraction of the price of final products. The taskforce's ideas also include a striking billionaire tax. The ultrarich usually have extremely high carbon footprints, often pay tax at far lower rates than regular workers and, frankly, can afford it. Sign up to Down to Earth The planet's most important stories. Get all the week's environment news - the good, the bad and the essential after newsletter promotion An annual tax of 2% of billionaires' wealth would raise a staggering $200bn-$250bn from just 3,000 people. 'The political feasibility of agreement to a global standard is very challenging,' says the taskforce. But it's hard to imagine the levy being unpopular with ordinary citizens. Finally, the taskforce is proposing a tax on financial transactions, which it says 'have benefited hugely from globalisation, without being taxed in most jurisdictions', and on cryptocurrencies, which require huge amounts of energy to generate. A tax of 0.5% on the value of the transaction of the stocks would raise $270bn a year. Thirty countries already have a similar tax and France even earmarks part of its levy for climate and development. A 0.1% tax on cryptocurrency transactions would raise about $16bn a year, but it wouldn't be easy to implement. 'Given the anonymity and decentralised nature of crypto, there is a high possibility of tax evasion,' the taskforce says. On the plus side, Kazakhstan, a big crypto miner, already taxes the energy used. Of course, all this requires governments and companies to step up to the plate, but they are not doing so quickly enough. In the meantime, solidarity taxes could be another route to making polluters pay. Let the taskforce know what you think. Read more: 'Morally, nobody's against it': Brazil's radical plan to tax global super-rich to tackle climate crisis Former world leaders seek $25bn levy on oil states' revenues to pay for climate damage How Trump is targeting wind and solar energy – and delighting big oil To read the complete version of this newsletter, subscribe to receive Down To Earth in your inbox every Thursday
