Taxing reckless speculators, a crackdown on tax dodging by the rich and big business and other alternatives to carbon trading could generate at least four times the $100 billion per year pledged by rich countries in Copenhagen to tackle climate change, according to a new report launched by Friends of the Earth on Wednesday, December 1, 2010.
The report shows that at least $420 billion per year could be generated using a range of financial alternatives to carbon trading to provide money for developing countries to tackle climate change.
Friends of the Earth also warns that relying on carbon trading to provide this money and to cut emissions risks a double whammy of climate and financial crisis - and that fairer and more effective solutions for cutting emissions are available now.
'Clearing the air' - launched in Cancun, Mexico, during the latest round of UN climate negotiations - suggests that the money could be generated by a new Financial Transaction Tax, tackling tax evasion by big business and wealthy individuals, redirecting fossil fuel subsidies, new rights for governments to draw money from the IMF and new, well-targeted carbon taxes.
The proposals in the report have been tailored to avoid affecting ordinary people the UK and other rich countries.
It includes a blueprint for how best to cut greenhouse gas emissions worldwide - including a global feed-in tariff programme to guarantee prices for energy generated using small-scale renewable technology, an expansion of small-scale agriculture, and tackling deforestation in a way that protects the rights of Indigenous Peoples.
Commenting on the proposals, Friends of the Earth's international climate campaigner and the author of the report, Sarah-Jayne Clifton, said:
"Fair and abundant sources of money to tackle climate change are available right now - even in the midst of the worst global recession for years.
"A tax on international financial transactions, cracking down on tax evasion, and redirecting fossil fuel subsidies could help to generate hundreds of billions of dollars a year - and provide money for health and education as well as for tackling climate change.
"At the UN climate talks in Cancun, rich countries must commit to providing more money to developing countries from these sources. They must do it now - the money is there."
Source: Friends of the Earth
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