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 damage? It is to answer these questions that a working group on “solidarity taxes” was launched in 2023, led by France, Kenya and Barbados. He delivered his first guidelines on Thursday, November 14, by 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 financing and equity issue at the heart of the 29e Climate Conference of the Parties (COP29), which is being held in Baku.
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“Current public financial commitments are not enough, so we need to consider taxes”launched the Prime Minister of Barbados, Mia Mottley, from the podium of COP29 on Tuesday, targeting high-emission sectors which 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 dollars per year”she estimated.
In Baku, countries must adopt a new global climate finance target. It must replace that set 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 objective will remain far from the needs, which now number in the trillions of dollars. Hence the idea of developing so-called “innovative” financing, which is “feasible, scalable and equitable”.
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Working group experts first propose a tax on international shipping, which they see as the proposal “the most mature”. This sector represents 3% of global greenhouse gas emissions. A tax of $150 to $300 per ton of CO equivalent2 could bring in up to 127 billion dollars per year between 2027 and 2030, an envelope which would then reduce until 2050. The idea of such a levy is one of the options in the action plan that the Maritime Organization must present in 2025 to achieve carbon neutrality in 2050.
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