COP27: fossil fuel tax urged at UN summit amid pleas from poorer nations
- There are growing calls for fossil fuel firms to help pay for damage they have helped cause to the planet
- For first time, delegates are discussing demands by developing countries that richest, most polluting nations pay compensation
World leaders are making the case for tougher action to tackle global warming, as this year’s international climate talks in Egypt hear growing calls for fossil fuel companies to help pay for the damage they have helped cause to the planet.
United Nations chief Antonio Guterres has warned that humanity was on “a highway to climate hell with our foot on the accelerator”, urging countries to “cooperate or perish”.
He and leaders such as Barbados Prime Minister Mia Mottley said it was time to make fossil fuel companies contribute to funds which would provide vulnerable countries with financial aid for the climate-related losses they are suffering.
The idea of a windfall tax on carbon profits has gained traction in recent months amid sky-high earnings for oil and gas majors even as consumers struggle to pay the cost of heating their homes and filling their cars.
For the first time, delegates at this year’s UN climate conference, in the resort town of Sharm el-Sheikh, are discussing demands by developing nations that the richest, most polluting countries pay compensation for damage wreaked on them by climate change, which in climate negotiations is called “loss and damage”.
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Calls for ‘climate justice’ as COP27 puts focus on compensation for poorer, vulnerable countries
The US midterm elections were hanging over the talks on Tuesday, with many environmental campaigners worried that defeat for the Democrats could make it harder for President Joe Biden to pursue his ambitious climate agenda.