Africa proposes global taxes to mitigate effects of climate change
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Hashim Sheikh
- . September 7, 2023
- . Update: September 7, 2023 3:18 pm
African leaders proposed global carbon tax reforms at Africa Climate Summit in Kenya’s capital on Wednesday with the aim to mitigate the effects of climate change.
In a joint declaration, African leaders proposed global taxes and reforms to international financial organizations to help fund climate change action projects in order to adapt to increasingly extreme weather conditions.
The joint declaration by the African leaders took place in Nairobi, the capital of Kenya. The Africa Climate Summit in Kenya took place to talk about risks associated with climate change. African leaders discussed storms, wildfires, and floods that led to substantial GDP losses. The leaders discussed ways to fight against extreme weather conditions and increase financing in order to adapt to conserve natural resources and develop renewable energy.
The Nairobi Declaration urged world leaders to adopt a global carbon taxation regime, including a carbon tax on fossil fuel trade, maritime transport and aviation in order to raise money for climate related projects.
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On Tuesday, William Ruto, the president of Kenya, also referred to proposals in the European Union (EU) for a financial transaction tax (FTT) as a potential model for adopting the proposed global carbon taxes. In 2013, the EU said it would initiate a financial transaction tax. After the EU’s proposal, some climate activists and groups said that the money should finance environmental priorities to mitigate climate change impact. However, the EU’s proposal never won unanimous approval to become a law.
Africa to take the Nairobi Declaration to U.N. climate conference
African leaders said that they would take the proposals in the Nairobi Declaration to a U.N. climate conference in New York. African leaders said that systemic changes were needed to fight against climate change. The Nairobi Declaration also called on multilateral development banks to boost lending to poorer countries.
Soipan Tuya, the Cabinet secretary for Environment, Climate Change and Forestry in the Cabinet of Kenya11, called on other leaders to develop adequate response measures to fight against climate change.
Several foreign companies and countries have committed to buy carbon credits from the Africa Carbon Markets Initiative (ACMI). A joint venture between United Kingdom banking giant HSBC and investment firm Pollination said it would invest $200 million into climate-related projects under the initiative.
