Prime Minister Mia Amor Mottley of Barbados has suggested that global taxes on financial services, oil and gas, and shipping industries could generate hundreds of billions of dollars to assist poor countries in adapting to climate change. She emphasized the ways in which poor countries, with the aid of wealthier nations and international financing, can bear the staggering costs the world faces in adapting to climate change, mitigating its future impact, and addressing losses and damages from climate-related issues like floods, wildfires, and heatwaves.
The United Nations Climate Summit, COP28, held in the United Arab Emirates, highlighted methods enabling developing nations to fund the trillions of dollars experts say are needed to address global warming. Mottley, speaking to journalists, praised the pledges for financing the transition to clean energy and climate change adaptation as “probably the greatest progress we have seen in the past twelve months in the area of financing.” However, she added, “we have not yet reached where we need to be.”
The G20, comprising major developing and industrial nations responsible for four-fifths of greenhouse gas emissions, reported that developing nations would need $5.9 trillion by 2030 to achieve their climate goals. Additionally, another $4 trillion would be required for these countries to be on track to reach net-zero emissions by 2050.
The United States, the world’s richest country, has never adopted any global tax. Republicans in Congress are against new taxes and hesitant to fund many multilateral institutions and programs.
