There Is More Than Enough Money To Stop Climate Change & Save The World

We just have to stop giving it to the wrong people.

Photo by NASA on Unsplash

When it comes to climate change, the blame is firmly placed on developed countries. We are the ones who have exploited the planet for our own wealth and disregarded the impact it has on our fellow human beings or this delicate ecosystem we call home. To add insult to injury, we aren’t the ones who will have to bear the worst of the climate fallout, as developing countries are set to shoulder by far the most extreme impacts. As such, for decades now, developing countries have been crying out for us to stop or, at the very least, give them the funds they need to survive this onslaught. Well, a new report has just shown that we can easily raise enough money to pay developing countries what they are demanding in climate finance, and fund our own transition to net-zero. All we have to do is stop giving it to those who are wrecking the planet.

So, how much money do developing countries need to survive the endless extreme weather that is coming their way while helping them transition to net-zero technology like renewables? Well, they are asking for $1 trillion per year of public funds. This will pay for upgrading their infrastructure to be more robust to extreme weather, decarbonise their energy grids, and pivot their domestic industry's to those that are resilient to climate change. In other words, it will mitigate the damage we have caused them.

Now, $1 trillion sounds like an insane amount of money, but the US spends roughly the same on its military and defence each year. So it isn’t an unfathomable sum of money.

Developed nations are already sending developing countries funds to do this, but it is hardly adequate. Developed countries committed to providing $100 billion annually in climate finance by 2020, which they have met. However, not only is this just a tenth of what these countries need, but the vast majority of these funds are in the form of highly restrictive or high-interest loans, designed to shuttle these funds back to the developed country giving them out, whilst ensuring the developing country stays reliant on such loans. In other words, it’s a hundred-billion-dollar racket. But that is a whole other story, so if you’d like to know more, click here.

But, this is where Oil Change International’s report comes in. They found that through windfall taxes on fossil fuels, ending harmful fossil fuel subsidies and a wealth tax on billionaires, we can raise $5 trillion per year in climate funds.

Windfall taxes, ending these subsidies, and wealth taxes are not new ideas, and have been done before with great success. They are also highly applicable to our current economic situation. Fossil fuel companies have been posting record profits for a few years now, meaning they can absorb windfall taxes and still be wildly profitable. As our energy grids transition to renewables and nuclear, fossil fuel companies are becoming less essential to our everyday lives, meaning that such subsidies are no longer needed or fit for purpose, and fossil fuel companies don’t need them to be profitable. Wealth taxes on the super-rich also aren’t a new idea. Roosevelt introduced a similar tax in 1935, which taxed households with annual incomes over $1 million ($23 million in today’s money) at a rate of 75% to solve a far more minor issue than climate change. What’s more, as the richest 1% of humanity is responsible for more carbon emissions than the poorest 66%, such a tax can help hold them accountable for their climate impact.

In other words, not only are these suggested taxes not that radical at all, but, it makes a huge amount of sense to put them into effect ASAP, and there has never been a better time to implement them.

But, after we give developing countries their $1 trillion a year, what do we do with the other $4 trillion?

Well, multiple studies have shown that it will take $3.5 trillion of investment each year between now and 2050 to phase out coal, stop deforestation, and transition developed nations to net-zero.

In other words, these simple, not radical at all, and common-sense suggested taxes can raise enough money to save the entire planet from our climate sins while ensuring those least responsible for climate change don’t suffer for it.

We really can save the world from ourselves and make it a better place. We just have to stop handing over trillions of dollars to these fat cats who don’t deserve it.

But is this just a pipe dream? Our governments and climate conferences are packed to the gunnels with fossil fuel lobbyists, after all.

Well, possibly not. Finance is a main talking point in the upcoming COP29 summit, with added pressure from previous agreements to get something in place by this time. Not only that, but several leaders around the world, such as Brazils’ Lula da Silva, are pushing for global wealth taxes on the uber-rich and forcing the UN to take greater responsibility for global climate financing. As such, it is a long shot, but these suggested taxes, or something akin to them, could be implemented very soon.

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Sources: The Guardian, Oil Change, Will Lockett, Vox, NPR, The Guardian