Tax oil, gas firms to pay for climate damages

***Ali Mohammed, the special envoy on climate change at the Office of the President /FILE***

A new study has shown majority of people believe governments should tax oil, gas and coal corporations for climate-related loss and damage.

The study by Greenpeace International and Oxfam International was unveiled June 19 at the UN Climate Meetings in Bonn (SB62).

“African leaders adopted the Nairobi Declaration during the inaugural Africa Climate Summit in Nairobi, which, among others, calls for a global carbon taxation regime, including levies on fossil fuel trade,” said Ali Mohamed, Kenya's special envoy for climate change.

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He said Kenya co-chairs the Global Solidarity Levies Task Force, which brings together a coalition of willing countries to design and implement progressive levies that reflect the true cost of pollution.

“The principle is simple; sectors profiting from the increasing greenhouse gas emissions that cause the destructive climate change must be taxed to support climate-impacted vulnerable communities in Africa and the other developing world to adapt and recover from the devastating losses and damages suffered frequently,” Ali said.

During the UN climate change meetings, government representatives discussed climate policies, including ways to raise at least US$ 1.3 trillion annually in climate finance for Global South countries by 2035.

The survey was conducted across 13 countries, including most G7 countries.

The research was conducted by first-party data company Dynata in May-June, in Brazil, Canada, France, Germany, Kenya, Italy, India, Mexico, Philippines, South Africa, Spain, UK and US, with approximately 1,200 respondents in each country and a theoretical margin of error of approximately 2.8 per cent.

Together, these countries represent close to half of the world’s population.

The survey shows 81 per cent of people surveyed would support taxes on the oil, gas, and coal industry to pay for damages caused by fossil-fuel-driven climate disasters like storms, floods, droughts and wildfires.

It also shows 86 per cent of people in surveyed countries support channelling revenues from higher taxes on oil and gas corporations towards communities most impacted by the climate crisis.

Climate change is disproportionately hitting people in Global South countries, who are historically least responsible for greenhouse gas emissions.

When asked who should be taxed to pay for helping survivors of fossil fuel-driven climate disasters, 66 per cent of people surveyed think it should be oil and gas companies, while just five per cent support taxes on working people, nine per cent on goods people buy, and 20 per cent favour business taxes.

The study shows 68 per cent felt fossil fuel industry and the super-rich have a negative influence on politics in their country, while 77 per cent say they would be more willing to support a political candidate who prioritises taxing them.

Oil and gas campaigner for Greenpeace Africa Sherelee Odayar said in Africa, people are feeling the heat—literally—and they are done footing the bill for disasters driven by record fossil-fuel profits.

“This survey sends an unmistakable message; our governments have a popular mandate to make oil, gas and coal corporations pay their fair share for the floods, droughts and hunger they’ve helped unleash. A polluter-pays tax would turn dirty profits into clean investments for frontline communities and that’s the climate justice Africa has been calling for,” she said.

Mads Christensen, executive director of Greenpeace International, said the survey results send a clear message; people are no longer buying the lies.

“They see the fingerprints of fossil fuel giants all over the storms, floods, droughts and wildfires devastating their lives and they want accountability. By taxing the obscene profits of dirty energy companies, governments can unlock billions to protect communities and invest in real climate solutions. It's only fair that those who caused the crisis should pay for the damage, not those suffering from it,” he said.

The study and pact, run by Dynata, was unveiled alongside the Polluters Pay Pact, a global alliance of communities on the front lines of climate disasters.

The pact demands that – instead of piling the costs on ordinary people – governments make oil, gas and coal corporations pay their fair share of damages through taxes and fines.

It is backed by firefighters and other first responders, trade unions and worker groups, and mayors from countries including Australia, Brazil, Bangladesh, India, the Philippines, Sri Lanka, Nigeria and South Africa, the US and plaintiffs in landmark climate cases from Pacific island states to Switzerland.

The agreement also supported by more than 60 NGOs, including Oxfam International, 350.org, Avaaz, Islamic Relief UK, Asociación Interamericana para la Defensa del Ambiente (AIDA), Indian Hawkers Alliance, Pacific Islands Students Fighting Climate Change, Jubilee Australia and the Greenpeace network.

The survey’s findings published today reveal broad public support for the core demands of the Polluters Pay Pact, as climate impacts worsen worldwide and global inequality grows.

Executive Director of Oxfam International Amitabh Behar said fossil fuel companies have known for decades about the damage their polluting products wreak on humanity.

“Corporations continue to cash in on climate devastation, and their profiteering destroys the lives and livelihoods of millions of women, men and children, predominantly those in the Global South who have done the least to cause the climate crisis.”

Behar said a new tax on polluting industries could provide immediate and significant support to climate-vulnerable countries and finally incentivise investment in renewables and a just transition.”

The Polluters Pay Pact demonstrates popular support for the campaign to make polluters pay.