Heads of state attending the African Climate Summit 2023 in Kenya this week have ended discussions with a declaration that calls for the imposition of global taxes on shipping, aviation and fossil fuel.
According to the BBC, the Nairobi Declaration will form the basis of Africa’s negotiating position at the UN Climate Change Conference in Dubai from November 30 to December 12.
Although it’s still early days, the idea of global taxes to generate funding meant to address global warming and its impact on countries across the world has apparently been unenthusiastically received by the international community.
The broadcaster’s regional editor for Africa, Richard Hamilton, reports that “African countries have suffered from heavy debt burdens for years and say they are forced to pay borrowing costs that are five to eight times higher than those imposed on wealthy nations.
“However, while some countries have imposed their own carbon taxes, the idea of a global tax regime has not gained much traction.”
The conviction of global taxes to generate developmental funding for countries most in need of mitigating the impact of climate change appears to be based on research that found African countries only received 12% of global finance meant to combat climate change.
This is despite the fact that Africa seems to be the continent that’s hardest hit by extreme weather.
Kenyan President William Rutto said: “We demand a fair playing ground for our countries to access the investment needed to unlock the potential and translate it into opportunities.”
Ideally, this should resemble a “just multilateral finance development architecture to liberate our economies from odious debt and onerous barriers to financial resources,” he said.
