DAKAR, Senegal, Nov 21 (IPS) – At the UN climate change conference in Baku (COP29), government officials are seeking agreement on a new climate finance system. There is an established consensus that climate change is exacerbating the plight of vulnerable communities around the world. The question now is who will pay for these incredible costs?
A small tax on the world’s seven largest oil and gas companies could increase the UN Fund for Combating Loss and Damage by more than 2000%, as shown in the analysis of the environmental organizations Greenpeace International and Stamp Out Poverty. Last year’s taxing of oil majors could help cover the costs of some of this year’s worst weather events linked to climate change.
Taxation ExxonMobil’s 2023 site could cover part of the cost of Hurricane Beryl, which devastated large parts of the Caribbean, Mexico and the USA. Taxing Shell’s 2023 emissions could offset the massive damage of Typhoon Carina, one of the worst the Philippines has experienced this year. Taxed TotalEnergies’ 2023 emissions could cover more than 30 times Kenya’s 2024 floods. A Climate Damage Tax (CDT) could bring much-needed resources to communities and authorities at the forefront of the climate crisis, which has been exacerbated by dirty energy companies. The companies combined, earned nearly $150 billion last year.
So, what would a long-term tax on fuel emissions, combined with excess profits taxes and other taxes, deliver? A climate damage tax imposed on rich OECD countries, rising annually by US$5 per ton of CO2 equivalent oil and gas emissions, could play an important role in financing climate action.
It could raise as much as US$900 billion by 2030 to support governments and communities around the world as they face the growing impacts of climate change.
Who should pay? This is a climate justice issue and it is time to shift the financial burden of the climate crisis from its victims to those who are responsible for it. There is an urgent need for new financing solutions to meet the challenge posed by climate change. Governments around the world should use climate damage taxes and other ways to raise money for the oil and gas industry.
The data clearly shows Big Oil’s involvement in our crisis, but to truly deliver climate justice the numbers are not enough.
That’s why our announcement to make climate polluters pay comes at the end of three weeks of protests, where survivors of floods and other extreme weather have stood with Greenpeace activists. Together, the activists brought to the offices of the dirty energy companies (e.g., TotalEnergies, Eni, Equinor, OMV) full of broken toys and family photos, furniture, electronics, and other remnants of the personal and social disaster, which became worse because of Big. Oil and gas production is constantly increasing.
For governments to finally force climate polluters to stop drilling and start paying, we all have to raise our voices.
Abdoulaye Diallo is Greenpeace International’s Stop Drilling Start Paying Initiative
IPS UN Bureau
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© Inter Press Service (2024) — All Rights ReservedOriginal source: Inter Press Service
