Rich individuals in all countries must pay more to tackle the climate crisis, whether through taxes or charges on consumption, one of the architects of the Paris agreement has said.

There is a growing consensus on the need for some kind of global wealth tax, with Brazil, which will host the Cop climate summit next year, an enthusiastic supporter.

Meanwhile, poor countries are struggling to raise the estimated $1tn (£785bn) a year of external finance needed to help them cut emissions and cope with the impacts of the climate crisis.

Another proposal is for a frequent flyer levy, as the richest people tend to take far more flights – in any year about half of the people in the UK do not fly, for instance. Laurence Tubiana, the chief executive of the European Climate Foundation, said a levy could be targeted at business class and first class seats.

  • @Fredselfish
    link
    English
    186 months ago

    No shit Sherlock. Problem is they did give a shit and at least in American we are all one paycheck from being homeless and can’t afford to rise up.

  • @WhatAmLemmy
    link
    English
    166 months ago

    They know. That’s why they’re been sowing the seeds of fascism around the world — establishing dictatorships is preferable to them than any sort of wealth redistribution.

  • Blue
    link
    English
    126 months ago

    Should have been like that yesteryears

  • @[email protected]
    link
    fedilink
    English
    116 months ago

    “Meanwhile, poor countries are struggling to raise the estimated $1tn (£785bn) a year of external finance needed to help them cut emissions and cope with the impacts of the climate crisis.”

    It felt so sad to read this.

    • @[email protected]OP
      link
      fedilink
      English
      66 months ago

      Yup. Rich Western nations giving the big middle finger to those who can barely afford to care for their people is pretty on-brand for 21st century capitalism.

      • @demonsword
        link
        English
        46 months ago

        it’s worthwhile to remember that said rich nations only became rich by heavily exploiting the global south

        • @[email protected]
          link
          fedilink
          English
          36 months ago

          Is prefer to phrase that differently. Most rich nations had the ability to build robust economies with steady growth without exploiting the global south… they just exploited the global south to get even richer.

          It’s not required that someone else suffer for a nation to get richer - and that’s what makes it even more disappointing that that exploitation went forward.

          • @[email protected]OP
            link
            fedilink
            English
            2
            edit-2
            6 months ago

            Colonization - historically done by Britain, Portugal, Belgium, etc - did, in fact, exploit huge swathes of the south in order to get rich.

            • @[email protected]
              link
              fedilink
              English
              46 months ago

              Absolutely, and that’s awful and wrong.

              My point was that wealth and standard of living increases don’t require colonization. They could have progressed without needing to oppress native peoples.

                • @[email protected]
                  link
                  fedilink
                  English
                  26 months ago

                  Hey no worries, as someone with ADHD you’d be amazed how often I accidentally imply exactly the opposite of what I state… and my communication isn’t always the clearest.

  • Optional
    link
    English
    86 months ago

    Almost like some kind of . . . global conspiracy by astoundingly wealthy people to destroy the planet for money and make everyone else live in the polluted extinction event.

    Obviously that’s just crazy talk.

    • @SlopppyEngineer
      link
      English
      36 months ago

      That’s not a conspiracy. It’s how things went down in the past. A civilization that used corn as a currency will insist on growing more corn even if weather patterns change, soils get depleted and long term the economy perishes. Value for the shareholders high priests must be maintained. The market gods are fickle.