Laurence Tubiana, one of experts behind 2015 agreement, calls for taxes or charges on consumption

Rich individuals in all countries must pay more to tackle the climate crisis, whether through taxes or charges on consumption, one of the architects of the Paris agreement has said.

There is a growing consensus on the need for some kind of global wealth tax, with Brazil, which will host the Cop climate summit next year, an enthusiastic supporter.

Meanwhile, poor countries are struggling to raise the estimated $1tn (£785bn) a year of external finance needed to help them cut emissions and cope with the impacts of the climate crisis.

Another proposal is for a frequent flyer levy, as the richest people tend to take far more flights – in any year about half of the people in the UK do not fly, for instance. Laurence Tubiana, the chief executive of the European Climate Foundation, said a levy could be targeted at business class and first class seats.

  • Fredselfish@lemmy.worldEnglish
    17·
    5 months ago

    No shit Sherlock. Problem is they did give a shit and at least in American we are all one paycheck from being homeless and can’t afford to rise up.

  • WhatAmLemmy@lemmy.worldEnglish
    16·
    5 months ago

    They know. That’s why they’re been sowing the seeds of fascism around the world — establishing dictatorships is preferable to them than any sort of wealth redistribution.

  • Codilingus@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
    11·
    5 months ago

    “Meanwhile, poor countries are struggling to raise the estimated $1tn (£785bn) a year of external finance needed to help them cut emissions and cope with the impacts of the climate crisis.”

    It felt so sad to read this.

    • girlfreddy@lemmy.caOPEnglish
      6·
      5 months ago

      Yup. Rich Western nations giving the big middle finger to those who can barely afford to care for their people is pretty on-brand for 21st century capitalism.

      • demonsword@lemmy.worldEnglish
        51·
        5 months ago

        it’s worthwhile to remember that said rich nations only became rich by heavily exploiting the global south

        • xmunk@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
          41·
          5 months ago

          Is prefer to phrase that differently. Most rich nations had the ability to build robust economies with steady growth without exploiting the global south… they just exploited the global south to get even richer.

          It’s not required that someone else suffer for a nation to get richer - and that’s what makes it even more disappointing that that exploitation went forward.

          • girlfreddy@lemmy.caOPEnglish
            2·
            5 months ago

            Colonization - historically done by Britain, Portugal, Belgium, etc - did, in fact, exploit huge swathes of the south in order to get rich.

            • xmunk@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
              4·
              5 months ago

              Absolutely, and that’s awful and wrong.

              My point was that wealth and standard of living increases don’t require colonization. They could have progressed without needing to oppress native peoples.

                • xmunk@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
                  2·
                  5 months ago

                  Hey no worries, as someone with ADHD you’d be amazed how often I accidentally imply exactly the opposite of what I state… and my communication isn’t always the clearest.

  • Optional@lemmy.worldEnglish
    91·
    5 months ago

    Almost like some kind of . . . global conspiracy by astoundingly wealthy people to destroy the planet for money and make everyone else live in the polluted extinction event.

    Obviously that’s just crazy talk.

    • SlopppyEngineer@lemmy.worldEnglish
      41·
      5 months ago

      That’s not a conspiracy. It’s how things went down in the past. A civilization that used corn as a currency will insist on growing more corn even if weather patterns change, soils get depleted and long term the economy perishes. Value for the shareholders high priests must be maintained. The market gods are fickle.