Global solidarity levies can play a vital role in our climate efforts

Solidarity taxes could support redistributive measures and optimize how we collectively tackle a great challenge of our times

- Emmanuel Macron, Mia Amor Mottley & William Ruto

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• A policy of solidarity levies could ensure that polluters everywhere bear a fair share of the burden and a portion of these tax collections go to developing countries in need of support.

• Perhaps the 10th anniversary of the Paris climate agreement next year will be remembered as the moment we all came together as a global community to implement solidarity levies.

From Bridgetown to Nairobi to Paris, no country is immune to the worsening effects of the climate crisis. With each passing year, we witness more climate-related destruction. In 2024, we have set a number of new records: wildfires in Chile have destroyed more than 14,000 homes; extreme rainfall in Brazil has devastated 478 cities and left nearly two million people stranded in Bangladesh; and in July, the world experienced its hottest day ever.

Africa has contributed only 3% of historical greenhouse-gas emissions, yet it endures some of the most severe climate-related disasters. These now cost the continent $15 billion per year, with climate-induced droughts and floods in 2023 causing food insecurity for more than 40 million Africans.