Antonio Guterres, the head of the UN, asked rich nations on Tuesday to tax the windfall profits of fossil fuel companies and use the proceeds to aid nations affected by the climate disaster and those whose lives are being made more difficult by rising food and energy costs.
Speaking to the 193 members of the UN General Assembly, the climate activist secretary-general intensified his criticism of the oil and gas industry, whose revenues have increased by tens of billions of dollars this year.
“While household budgets are shrinking and our planet burns, the fossil fuel sector is gorging on hundreds of billions of dollars in subsidies and windfall profits,” he said. and “Polluters must pay.” he continued.
While Guterres once more urged industrialized nations to tax the windfall gains from fossil fuels, this time he also used his platform to outline how the money ought to be used.
He told the annual summit of world leaders in New York, “That money should be diverted in two ways: to countries suffering loss and damage caused by the climate problem; and to individuals dealing with rising food and energy prices.”
While the European Union expects to earn more than 140 billion euros by taxing windfall profits from oil corporations and electric generators, Britain has passed a 25% windfall tax on North Sea oil and gas producers. Both taxes are intended to protect consumers from skyrocketing energy prices. Though it faces stiff opposition in a Congress that is deeply divided, US Democratic politicians have considered a similar notion.
The secretary-general promoted a tax that would be channeled to the world’s most climate-vulnerable countries, who have been welcoming the notion, whereas these schemes concentrate on diverting windfall earnings to domestic consumers.
