From tax justice to climate action: introducing Global Solidarity Levies
The recent webinar From tax justice to climate action: introducing Global Solidarity Levies, jointly organised by the Addis Tax Initiative (ATI) and the Global Solidarity Levies Task Force (GSLTF), brought together experts and government representatives to discuss how global solidarity levies could support fair and predictable climate finance.
The event came at a timely moment, as international attention turns towards COP30. The joint dialogue aimed to foster and advance policy discussions on solidarity levies — an emerging idea in global climate finance. The discussion, moderated by Paola Yanguas, Policy Advisor at the International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD), explored both the technical and normative dimensions of these levies and highlighted the GSLTF’s ongoing efforts to promote and raise awareness of innovative financing tools for climate and development.
Below you can find a full recap of the event.
A call for fairness and predictability
Speaking on behalf of the Government of Kenya, Yussuf Hussen, Climate Finance Advisor to the Special Envoy on Climate, Office of the President, opened by describing the dialogue as both timely and crucial as today’s global debate ahead of COP30 is not only about mobilising climate finance but also about ensuring that it is fair and predictable.
Kenya, which co-chairs the GSLTF alongside France and Barbados, is advocating for practical solutions that make those most responsible for emissions contribute proportionately to global climate and development goals. Hussen emphasised that the same principle of fairness that guides national tax systems should also apply internationally to benefit both people and the planet. “Fairness and solidarity can coexist not as abstract ideas, but as policy instruments”, he said.
“The current financial system is under strain, and stable and predictable financial flows are essential to rebuild trust in multilateral systems”.
Yussuf Hussen, Climate Finance Advisor to the Special Envoy on Climate, Office of the President, Kenya
Hussen shared Kenya’s involvement in several initiatives aligned with these goals. One of them is the Pact for Prosperity, People and the Planet (4P), a coalition of over 70 countries with a mission to design progressive, implementable, and politically credible mechanisms that complement domestic revenue mobilisation (DRM) while ensuring that those responsible for emissions contribute proportionally to climate and development goals.
He also mentioned the aviation Premium Flyers Solidarity Coalition, an alliance of 8 countries launched at the 4th International Conference of Financing for Development (FFD4), whose technical process will culminate at COP30 in Belém with the Premium Flyers Declaration: a step towards ensuring that premium and frequent flyers contribute to climate resilience and just transitions.
Hussen underlined that as COP30 approaches, diplomatic and technical efforts are needed to support instruments like solidarity levies that can help close the financing gap and serve both people and the planet. He noted that solidarity levies are not meant to replace DRM but to complement it, and highlighted the work of the ATI and its Seville Declaration on DRM in advocating for fair, efficient, and environmentally sensitive taxation. Taxation, he continued, remains central to national ownership and sovereignty. Ensuring fiscal coherence between domestic and international instruments can help reduce debt dependence, enhance resilience, promote green industrialisation, and rebuild trust between North and South in the process.
“Ensuring fiscal coherence between domestic and international instruments can help reduce debt dependence, enhance resilience, promote green industrialisation, and rebuild trust between North and South in the process”.
The broader perspective
Professor Avinash Persaud, Special Advisor on Climate Change to the President of the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), highlighted the considerable financing needs of developing countries on climate and other aspects of development. Setting the scene, he used the energy transition, one of the largest transformations in generations, as an example: “Expecting it to be financed by the limited resources of poorer countries is unrealistic”.
“Countries are well incentivised to raise revenues locally, but we need a strong push on the international component. It is estimated that the international component of climate finance alone is 1.3 trillion dollars per year. Today, total ODA stands at only 200 billion dollars, 1/12 of what is needed, and declining…”.
Avinash Persaud, Special Advisor on Climate Change to the President of the Inter-American Development Bank
Persaud argued that relying on “magical solutions” such as insurance or private sector investments in climate finance will not be enough. While international taxes are often considered as politically and technically impossible, history shows that international mechanisms can work. He mentioned the Oil Pollution Compensation Fund, created shortly after an oil spill between the UK and France. Similar global responses could be developed to address climate change, for example, through small levies on air travel.
“The key is to match problems with solutions”, he added, referring to levies on air travel as instruments that could generate substantial revenue that can be used to address aviation’s environmental impact.
The role of the Task Force
Brice Roinsard from the GSLTF Secretariat explained that the task force, created at COP28 in UAE, supports countries in exploring the feasibility of levies on high-emission sectors to support countries comply with their responsibilities under the Paris Agreement.
The most recent work of the GSLTF is on a better contribution of the aviation sector to fair transitions and resilience. But why a levy on aviation?
“Aviation is one of the first targets of the GSLTF because it remains largely undertaxed compared to its environmental impact”.
Aviation has contributed about 4% of human-induced global warming, and its emissions are forecasted to grow by 300% by 2050 due to rising air travel demand. Even in countries with relatively high aviation taxes, air transport pricing covers only a small portion of its negative externalities. Roinsard noted that at least 52 countries already apply some form of aviation tax, which means systems exist to implement such levies.
“Currently kerosene fuel for international aviation is generally not taxed at all. In contrast, the fuel used by motorists every day is taxed significantly: in the G20, the average pricing of kerosene in 2021 was 9 euros/ton of CO₂ compared with 79 euros for diesel and 68 euros for gasoline”.
Brice Roinsard, Programme Manager, GSLTF
At COP30, the GSLTF will present a report titled “The Potential of Solidarity Levies”, offering seven recommendations for international taxation in high-emission or high-profit sectors such as aviation, fossil fuels, and crypto transactions, and highlighting their revenue potential.
Open discussion and next steps
During the open discussion, participants raised questions on several aspects of the solidarity levies. They touched issues like their main objective – whether to raise revenue or change behaviour, their legal feasibility, and the reasons why, despite broad citizen support, polluting sectors often remain under-taxed or even subsidised in many countries.
In response, Roinsard from the GSLTF Secretariat explained that the initiative adopts a double-dividend approach: the primary goal is revenue generation through small, not too distortive levies on high-emitting sectors, while a secondary benefit may include behavioural change. Professor Persaud added that cross-border levies are legally feasible, referring to examples such as the UK stamp tax on financial transactions largely collected in Brussels. He recognised that, although taxes can be unpopular, small transaction-based taxes often go unnoticed and can raise significant revenue. Persaud also noted that globally coordinated measures could help rebalance fiscal capacities and promote fairer outcomes.
The GSLTF also presented a simulator tool that models potential revenue from different aviation levy scenarios based on real flight and fuel data.
In her closing remarks, Taís Chartouni from the ATI Secretariat, linked the discussion to the Seville Declaration and the vision statement of the Addis Tax Initiative: “We believe that tax systems can provide manifold benefits to societies and economies, including by promoting investment and economic growth, strengthening gender equality and empowering minorities, protecting the environment, and reducing inequalities”. She invited ATI members to share suggestions on how the initiative can continue to engage on the topic of global solidarity levies as complementary tools to domestic revenue mobilisation.
As a follow-up, the ATI and GSLTF Secretariats will co-organise a workshop on aviation levies after COP30. Further information on this workshop will be shared in due time.
