UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has urged nations all over the world to levy “windfall taxes” of some kind on fossil fuel companies. He suggested during the UN General Assembly that the funds should be distributed to countries that are experiencing a severe climate crisis.
Guterres stated that “polluters must pay” for the harm caused by natural disasters in a number of nations in a speech outlining a number of environmental problems plaguing the world. UN chief stated that fossil fuel companies from rich countries should be charged with extra taxes.
“Today, I am calling on all developed economies to tax the windfall profits of fossil fuel companies,” Guterres said in a speech to the UN general assembly on Tuesday, according to AFP.
In his most urgent and bleakest speech to date on the status of the world and the willingness of nations to change direction, Guterres made his appeal.
“Our world is in big trouble. Let’s have no illusions. We are in rough seas. A winter of global discontent is on the horizon, a cost-of-living crisis is raging, trust is crumbling, inequalities are exploding and our planet is burning,” he told the assembly. “We have a duty to act and yet we are gridlocked in colossal global dysfunction. The international community is not ready or willing to tackle the big dramatic challenges of our age.”
According to Guterres’ plan, tax money would mostly go to developing nations experiencing “loss and damage” from climate change. These funds would then be used to fund early warning systems, disaster relief efforts, and other activities aimed at fostering resilience. In order to cover losses and damages, vulnerable nations want to use the UN General Assembly week to lobby wealthy nations for a worldwide tax that is “connected to climate and based on justice.”
According to Guterres, new investments in oil, coal, and gas are “moral and economic foolishness.” He has also accused governments of having a “addiction” to fossil fuels. He further stated that Governments must stage an “intervention” to break their addiction to fossil fuels.
Although governments have committed to limiting global warming to 1.5C over pre-industrial levels, practically all nations are falling short in their attempts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions as swiftly as necessary to avoid this degree of warming and escape the devastating effects of global warming.
There are still enough of known fossil fuel reserves in the globe that can be burned, according to recent research. This would release 3.5 trillion tonnes of greenhouse gases and blow the carbon budget before we reach 1.5C. Emissions have already returned to pre-pandemic levels.