The authors say the levy could be easily administered within existing tax systems. They calculate that if the tax were introduced in OECD countries in 2024 at an initial rate of $5 a ton of CO2 equivalent, increasing by $5 a ton each year, it would raise a total of $900 billion by 2030.
Of that $720 billion would go to the loss and damage fund with the remaining $180 billon earmarked as a “domestic dividend” to support communities within richer nations with a just climate transition.
Fossil fuel companies have lobbied hard against it. But we almost got it included in the Inflation Reduction Act here in the U.S.
Unfortunately, after the IRA, there’s not a huge appetite for more big climate legislation. But we will keep pushing for it.