Greenpeace International has called on global governments to significantly increase taxes on the wealthiest polluters, to help fund climate action.
The NGO made its call to coincide with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank‘s annual meetings in Bangkok, Thailand, at a time when the country faces widespread flooding due to human-induced climate change.
Climate debt
“The floods affecting communities across Thailand show how the costs of a changing climate are increasingly being borne by ordinary people – through damaged homes, lost income and livelihoods, and public money needed for recovery,” commented Pichmol Rugrod, Plastic-Free Future project lead, Greenpeace Thailand.
“This is what climate debt looks like in people’s lives. Those who have contributed the least should not continue to pay the highest price, while the wealthiest polluters continue to profit and pay nothing. As global financial leaders meet in Bangkok, taxing the wealthiest polluters must be identified as part of the solution, with the revenues used to support affected communities and fund climate action.”
In its statement, Greenpeace said that increased tax revenues from heavy polluters could finance emissions reduction initiatives, climate adaptation and support for communities affected by climate-related damage. At present, however, it said that individuals are having to deal with the ‘ devastating fallout of a financial system that continues to let the wealthiest polluters continue to profit while they pollute’.
According to recent estimates cited by Greenpeace, investments by the world’s richest 0.01% in carbon-intensive industries were associated with some $992 billion in climate costs incurred in 2022. This underscores the need to ‘hold those most responsible for climate damage accountable’, it added.
Corporate polluters
Greenpeace called on the IMF and World Bank to move beyond recommendations focused on austerity and support taxation of high-net-worth individuals and corporate polluters, as well as urging individual governments to use the UN Tax Convention to build fairer global tax rules, and ‘make the wealthiest polluters pay’ for the damage they cause.
“To fund a fair and resilient future for generations to come, governments must be able to redesign tax systems so they benefit the majority, not just the wealthiest,” added Gerance Mutwol, Fair Share project lead, Greenpeace Africa.
“Governments must support a strong UN Tax Convention to close tax loopholes that drain national budgets, protect countries’ taxing rights and ensure tax systems support sustainable development goals and not work against them.” Read more here.
