NEW YORK, October 1 (IPS) – I used to be 16 years outdated when Tremendous-Hurricane Haiyan tore by way of my group in Japanese Samar within the Philippines. It stays one of many deadliest storms in historical past, killing greater than 6,000 individuals and displacing hundreds of thousands. My group misplaced every thing: Family members, household properties and land, our methods to earn a dwelling and rebuild, and our sense of security all vanished in a single day.
That storm didn’t occur in a vacuum. Fossil gas corporations have exacerbated the local weather disaster, and with it, the damaging energy and frequency of pure disasters. The fossil gas corporations, nonetheless, didn’t pay for the harm – as an alternative they’ve raked in file earnings, whereas it was our households, our authorities, and worldwide donors who bore the prices.
That have formed my life.
Since Haiyan, I’ve labored with survivors, youth, and frontline communities throughout the Philippines and past. I’ve seen up shut how local weather disasters strip away properties, meals safety, and dignity.
I’ve additionally seen how fossil gas firms proceed to rake in file earnings whereas we pay the value. That’s the reason I’ve joined campaigns like Make Wealthy Polluters Pay. As a result of what we’re demanding shouldn’t be charity – it’s justice and accountability.
The science is obvious: fossil gas corporations are liable for round 75% of world greenhouse fuel emissions. They’ve identified for many years that burning oil, fuel, and coal would destabilize the local weather, but they nonetheless select to deceive the general public and delay motion. At present, their earnings stay astronomical. In 2022 alone, fossil gas corporations made practically $600 billion in after-tax earnings.
Our demand is straightforward: tax these polluters for the damages they’ve prompted, and channel these revenues to the communities least accountable but hit hardest by the local weather disaster. Such a tax wouldn’t solely appropriate a historic injustice, but in addition mobilize desperately wanted assets for adaptation, loss and harm compensation, and a simply power transition.
And it isn’t solely fossil gas corporations that have to be held accountable. Oxfam analysis has discovered that the richest 1% p.c of humanity contribute extra to local weather breakdown than the poorest two-thirds mixed.
A wealth tax on millionaires and billionaires, alongside a everlasting polluter earnings tax, may elevate trillions annually to fund renewable power, assist farmers dealing with drought, and relieve the crushing debt burdens of nations like mine.
It’s necessary to notice that this isn’t simply an activist demand. A current survey commissioned by Oxfam and Greenpeace, carried out throughout 13 nations masking practically half the world’s inhabitants, present overwhelming assist for taxing fossil gas corporations. Some key takeaways embrace:
- 81% of individuals assist taxing fossil gas corporations – oil, fuel, and coal – to pay for local weather damages.
- 66% of individuals say oil and fuel corporations, not peculiar employees, ought to cowl the prices of disasters.
- 86% of respondents need the revenues directed to communities most impacted by the local weather disaster.
- 75% of respondents say frequent flyers, business-class vacationers, and personal jet customers ought to pay extra tax.
- And critically, 77% of individuals say they might be extra more likely to vote for political candidates who prioritize taxing polluters and the super-rich.
Even in the USA, with a local weather denier within the White Home, there’s broad and bipartisan assist: 75% of individuals surveyed assist taxing oil and fuel corporations for local weather damages – together with 63% of Republicans.
In my very own nation, the Philippines, assist is even greater: 84% again taxing fossil gas corporations. For us, the reason being clear. We all know what it means to lose every thing in a storm whereas watching firms develop richer from the fuels that warmth our planet.
And momentum for motion is constructing. Final week, practically 40 former heads of state and authorities – together with former UN Secretary-Common Ban Ki-moon and former presidents Mary Robinson (Eire), Vicente Fox (Mexico), and Carlos Alvarado (Costa Rica), amongst many others – issued an open letter urging governments to undertake everlasting polluter revenue taxes.
They argue that fossil gas corporations should contribute their fair proportion to finance the worldwide power transition and assist these most in danger.
Oxfam evaluation exhibits {that a} polluter earnings tax on oil, fuel, and coal corporations may elevate as much as $400 billion in its first yr alone. That is sufficient to present main assist for renewable power enlargement, local weather adaptation, and reduction for nations drowning in debt.
We additionally know this strategy is possible. Throughout the 2022 oil worth disaster, a number of governments applied windfall taxes. In the USA, states like Vermont and New York have handed laws requiring fossil gas corporations to pay into funds that assist adaptation and catastrophe response. These examples show that taxing polluters is feasible and in style.
As world leaders return residence after this yr’s UN Common Meeting to organize for upcoming G20 talks in South Africa and COP30 in Brazil, the query earlier than them shouldn’t be whether or not that is attainable. It’s whether or not they may take heed to scientists, to the general public, to former presidents and prime ministers, and to frontline voices like mine.
For me, and for hundreds of thousands already dwelling within the coronary heart of this disaster, the decision is obvious: it’s previous time to make polluters pay.
Marinel Ubaldo is a local weather activist from the Philippines who advocates for local weather justice, and is a founding accomplice, of Oxfam’s “Make Wealthy Polluters Pay” marketing campaign.
IPS UN Bureau
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