28/11/2024
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- Spearheaded by Kenya, Barbados and France, the new Coalition for Solidarity provides countries with a way to progress climate finance, during a period of heightened geopolitical uncertainty
- The task force’s progress report highlights critical steps in coalition-building, impact assessments, and technical research into levies on maritime fuel, aviation, fossil fuels and financial services.
The Global Solidarity Levies Task Force (GSLTF), led and co-chaired by Kenya, Barbados and France with support from the ECF, launched a Coalition for Solidarity Levies at COP29 in Baku, Azerbaijan. The new coalition aims to secure sustainable funding for climate and development action by establishing levies on carbon-intensive industries, based on the polluter pays principle. The Coalition also provides countries interested in tackling climate change with a new forum to advance their interests, without having to wait for broader geopolitical alignment when some countries oppose the principle.
At a launch event at COP29, the coalition welcomed Prime Minister Mia Amor Mottley (Government of Barbados), Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez (Government of Spain), President Hilda Heine (Marshall Islands) and many others, to back this call to action.
Today, five new countries joined the coalition: Sierra Leone, Zambia, Fiji, Djibouti and Somalia. This group backed the Global Solidarity Levies Task Force, and includes Barbados, France, Kenya, Antigua & Barbuda, Colombia, Marshall Islands, Senegal, Spain, and Denmark. This brings the total membership of the coalition to 17, including three observers: the African Union, the European Commission and Germany.
“We are opening a new chapter with the Coalition for Solidarity Levies and we want this coalition to open a new chapter for climate finance. We want member states and sub-national governments that can implement solidarity levies."
Kevin Magron, Special Advisor on Climate Action, France
The Task Force was formed to address a critical gap in climate and development finance. Since its inception, it has undertaken in-depth technical work and built a coalition of willing countries committed to implementing climate levies at a global level.
At COP29, the Task Force released its progress report, unveiling a range of policy options for levies on shipping, aviation, fossil fuels, financial transactions and carbon pricing. It also announced it will explore additional options such as levies on cryptocurrency and plastics production and has the potential to coordinate a minimum effective taxation standard for ultra-wealthy individuals – something currently being considered at the G20.
“There can be no climate justice without fiscal justice, as all countries are facing the same challenge: how to fund the transition while ensuring that those with the greatest means and the highest emissions pay their fair share. This is the aim of the Global Solidarity Levies Task Force: between now and COP30 in Belem, we want to put forward concrete options for global solidarity levies to provide new predictable, stable and concessional sources of finance.”
Professor Laurence Tubiana, CEO of the ECF and Co-lead of the Secretariat of the Global Solidarity Levies Task Force