A GND would eliminate fossil fuel company power

A wealth tax on the fortunes of the world’s richest people would raise trillions of dollars that could be spent on helping poorer countries shift their economies to a low-carbon footing, and on “loss and damage”, the rescue and rehabilitation of countries stricken by climate disaster. A 2% tax on extreme wealth would yield about $2.5tn a year, by recent estimates. The economists, including the prominent degrowth advocate Jason Hickel, have written a letter to world leaders before a global summit on finance this week. They are calling for a tax of 1.5% for 1.5C to help ensure the world limits global temperature rises to 1.5C above pre-industrial levels. The world’s wealthiest people are responsible for an outsize proportion of global greenhouse gas emissions, with the richest 1% responsible for double the carbon emissions of the world’s poorest half, according to Oxfam, but there are few constraints on them. Recent research suggests if the combined emissions of wealthy countries was counted against the destruction that the climate crisis is wreaking in poorer countries, the rich would owe the poor $6tn a year in “reparations” for the damage caused. Mark Paul, of Rutgers University, and a signatory of the letter, which was spearheaded by the campaigning group Oil Change International, said rich countries were not facing up to their responsibilities. “Global north leaders saying they can’t afford to address global crises is the oldest excuse in the book, and simply put, a lie. What’s truly unaffordable is the status quo. The truth is there is no shortage of public money that can be dedicated to the cause, only a lack of political will – but that must change.” In the letter, the economists also call for an end to harmful subsidies of fossil fuels, and the forgiveness of debts for some of the poorest countries. Alex Lenferna, of Nelson Mandela University and the Climate Justice Coalition, one of the signatories of the letter, said: “Countries in the global south are drowning in debt, which is driving austerity and undermining our ability to respond to the climate crisis. “We need much more public money to drive a truly just transition. The global north must pay their climate debt, and not use climate finance as a wolf in sheep’s clothing that advances their interests.” Richard Heede, of the Climate Accountability Institute, said fossil fuel companies must pay for the damage they have caused. “The wealthy fossil fuel companies that have acted in concert to delay action and perpetuate the carbon economy should also contribute substantially to an atmospheric trust to aid the nations and peoples who have contributed little to the climate emergency.” About