Rich Countries Could Drum Up $5 Trillion for Climate Finance By Taking Aim At Fossil Fuels, Rich People: Report

The report claims that rich countries — technically known as annex II nations, as defined by the U.N.’s climate change body, a group that notably does not include world’s biggest emitter and second biggest economy, China — can scrounge up north of $5 trillion every year in publicly available money to support their climate finance obligations. That is a lot of money.

The specific sources of the funding are, let’s say, aspirational. The rich world could generate $270 billion by ceasing their funding of fossil fuels in the form of subsidies or state-owned companies; $160 billion could come from extracting a damages tax from major polluters; another $180 billion is available with aviation and maritime shipping taxes. Then there are items a little less tightly connected to climate change: $395 billion by raising minimum corporate tax rates to 25 percent, $363 billion by cracking down on tax evasion, $240 billion from a financial transaction tax. Dare to dream: $260 billion by redistributing 20 percent of public military spending, or a ripe $2.56 trillion just from increasing wealth taxes on millionaires and billionaires.

It is quite the list. Obviously, rich countries have generally shown no inclination to do any of these sorts of things, with very few exceptions; but that’s sort of the point when it comes to climate finance: this was unprecedented and irreversible damage, time for the culprits to turn over any and every couch cushion available.

“It is a bitter irony that rich nations hide behind claims of fiscal restraint, yet trillions are still spent on fossil fuel subsidies and militarization,” said Andreas Sieber, the associate director of policy and campaigns for the non-profit 350.org. “The truth is simple: the money exists, but the political will does not.”