New York, United States – New global tax rules that could help fund climate action, protect nature, and reduce inequality are being negotiated at the historic UN Framework Convention on International Tax Cooperation (UNFCITC), which kicks off a 2-week round of negotiations in New York today.
Commenting on what's at stake, the Greenpeace International delegation said the UN process could reform global tax rules so that the richest individuals and multinational corporations like oil and gas companies are forced to pay their fair share for the pollution they cause. Practices like tax dodging and profit shifting are depriving countries of vital resources needed for development and climate goals.[1]
Fred Njehu, Global Political Lead for Greenpeace International's Fair Share campaign, said: "We're at a turning point in history. Billionaires and corporations must finally pay their fair share of tax to fund climate action, protect nature, and invest in the wellbeing of people and the planet. World leaders must listen to what the people want and deliver a fair tax system that works for everyone, not just the powerful few."
Rebecca Newsom, Global Political Lead for Greenpeace International's Stop Drilling, Start Paying campaign, said: "Climate resilience must not depend on voluntary donations, or on market-rate loans that exacerbate the debt crisis already facing many countries. The costs of rebuilding from devastating floods and storms, and adapting to increasingly brutal heat waves should be financed by taxing the fossil fuel polluters who caused the problem in the first place. The UN Tax Convention provides a once-in-a-generation opportunity to properly tax the global profits of multinational oil, gas and coal corporations and raise vital revenues to fill the financing gap for communities facing disasters on the frontlines of the climate crisis - this is what we're here to demand."
European countries make up the bulk of OECD, the club of rich countries who currently set global tax rules in an exclusive and unrepresentative process. Commenting on the role of Europe in negotiations to change this system, Clara Thompson, climate and tax justice lead, Greenpeace International, said: "You can't tackle the climate crisis while the super-rich stash billions in tax havens. The UN Tax Convention is a historic chance to rewrite the global rules and to make polluters and profiteers finally pay their fair share. In their written submission, Germany has recognised the need to explore taxing high-net-worth individuals as part of the commitment to sustainable development. Now is the time to turn that recognition into action. Europe must step up and help build a fairer global tax system that puts people and the planet first."
Ahead of negotiations in New York, Greenpeace organisations have written to ministers in key countries taking part in this process, calling for their leadership and speaking out in favour of three key demands. [2] The demands call for:
- progressive environmental taxation to ensure the biggest polluters pay their fair share;
- a surtax on the profits of fossil fuel and other high polluting corporations, with revenue channeled towards global climate and development financing obligations;
- higher tax rates for billionaires and super-polluters in line with their ecological debt, with funds raised going to support climate action and sustainable development.
Greenpeace International is also calling for governments to make fossil fuel corporations and the super-rich pay their fair share for the damages they cause through the Polluters Pay Pact and the global movement to #TaxTheSuperRich.[2][3]
