Where can we find the trillions of dollars needed for the ecological transition, particularly in developing countries? And how can we make polluters pay for their damages? To answer these questions, a working group on “solidarity taxes” was created in 2023, led by France, Kenya and Barbados. He gave his first guidelines on Thursday, November 14, establishing a list of possible taxes – and expected revenues – on fossil fuels, air and maritime transport, financial transactions or even plastic, cryptocurrencies and the super-rich. A question of financing and capital at the center of the 29my Climate Conference of the Parties (COP29), held in Baku.
“Current public financial commitments are not enough, so we must consider taxes”Barbados Prime Minister Mia Mottley launched on Tuesday from the COP29 podium, taking aim at high-emitting sectors that are getting rich without doing their “fair share” in the global climate effort. “Between the maritime sector, aviation and fossil fuels, we are easily around $350 billion a year”estimated.
In Baku, countries must adopt a new global climate finance target. It must replace the one established in 2009, which provided for rich countries to mobilize $100 billion in annual aid for developing countries, a sum reached in 2022, two years late. Even if revised upwards, the future financial target will still fall short of needs, which now run into trillions of dollars. Hence the idea of developing the so-called “innovative” financing, which is “feasible, scalable and equitable”.
The experts of the working group first propose a tax on international maritime transport, which they consider the proposal “the most mature”. This sector represents 3% of global greenhouse gas emissions. A tax of 150 to 300 dollars per ton of CO equivalent2 could generate up to 127 billion dollars per year between 2027 and 2030, an endowment that would then be reduced until 2050. The idea of such a rate is one of the options in the action plan that the Maritime Organization must present in 2025 to achieve neutrality carbon in 2050.
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