The climate crisis is a ticking time bomb, and those with the greatest power, wealth, and influence must take responsibility for their role in it. While millions of the world’s most marginalized people are paying the ultimate price with their lives, their homes, or their livelihoods, billionaires and fossil fuel giants continue to profit. The time has come to hold decision-makers and the wealthiest accountable.
The consequences of climate chaos have become increasingly frequent and devastating. Recent droughts in Ethiopia, Kenya, and Somalia, for instance, have caused millions of people who live in poverty in rural areas to lose their main economic asset: their livestock. Between 2021 and 2023, nearly 13 million livestock worth around $7.4 billion died in those countries. The people bearing the brunt of these impacts contributed little to the problem, while major fossil fuel corporations have continued to pollute with impunity, reaping enormous profits, paying far too little in taxes, and using their influence to shape policies in their favor.
The coming months are critical. World leaders are gearing up for the United Nations Summit of the Future and Climate Week in New York next week, with the U.N. Climate Change Conference in Azerbaijan (known as COP29) looming in November. These are the meetings where the big decisions will be made—determining how much the global north is willing to help the global south transition to clean energy mechanisms, shield itself from environmental devastation, and repair damage already caused by climate change. This will require trillions of dollars, but so far, there is no agreement on where that money will come from.
Let’s be clear: The wealthiest 1 percent—predominantly men—are responsible for as much carbon pollution as the poorest two-thirds of humanity, according to Oxfam. Billionaires, through their investments, produce 1 million times more emissions than the average person. Yet, when it comes to fixing the climate catastrophe, the burden seems to fall on everyone except those who hold the power and resources to make meaningful changes. On average, G-20 members collect only 7.6 percent of their tax revenue through wealth taxes, compared with 32.3 percent from taxes on goods and services, which shifts more of the tax burden on lower-income households. In countries such as Brazil, France, Italy, the United Kingdom, and the United States, the ultra-rich have lower effective tax rates than the average worker.
The current approach—where regular taxpayers shoulder the billions of dollars needed to address the harms caused by climate breakdown and subsidize the costs of building new renewable energy infrastructure—is both unfair and unsustainable. Even more troubling, governments continue to use taxpayer funds to provide massive subsidies for fossil fuel production. In 2023 alone, the world invested more than $1 trillion in fossil fuel infrastructure. Corporations have doubled down on dirty energy, prioritizing profits over people and the planet. Oil and gas corporations spend only about 2.5 percent of their capital on clean energy technologies.
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Governments need to implement fairer tax policies that ensure the richest polluters pay their due and then use this revenue to invest heavily in a clean energy transition and public services. With wealthier countries leading by example, these taxes should place the primary burden on the ultra-rich, not on middle- and low-income communities.
There are plenty of ways to do this, but a few stand out. First, countries need to make sure the ultra-rich pay greater income and wealth taxes. In high-income countries, a modest wealth tax alone could generate more than $1.2 trillion a year. Highly progressive taxes on income, capital gains, property, and inheritance would raise even more money.
For the first time in history, at the G-20 finance ministers’ meeting in July, the world’s largest economies agreed to cooperate to tax the ultra-rich. At the G-20 summit in November, they must go further and settle on a specific standard that taxes the ultra-rich at a high enough rate to ensure they are equitably contributing to public budgets and combating the growing crisis of economic inequality.
Second, governments must put in place permanent taxes on the profits of fossil fuel corporations and other major polluters based or operating in their countries—as well as on their shareholder payouts. The 21 biggest fossil fuel companies are expected to cause climate harms between 2025 and 2050 that will cost $5.4 trillion. Meanwhile, in 2021 and 2022, just 45 energy corporations raked in on average $237 billion a year. A tax on fossil fuel profits would generate resources and incentivize greater investment in clean energy.
Third, while governments take action to implement these taxes domestically, they must also advocate for international agreements at COP29 and other U.N. forums to coordinate on taxation on polluters and meet the global south’s need for climate and development finance. Taxes on the wealthiest polluters and redirection of investments into green initiatives are not only logical—they are essential. The world urgently needs trillions of dollars to protect people from climate disasters and overhaul energy systems from top to bottom to prevent further climate catastrophe.
In addition to taxes, it is crucial for governments to focus on domestic fiscal reforms that fund sustainable energy alternatives at the local and national levels. This will require prioritizing cities with the highest pollution indices, promoting urban resilience, and generating green jobs. Simultaneously, governments should account for the impact of these changes on the general population. As nations seek to implement these reforms, they should take care to address existing inequalities. The voices of marginalized groups, including Indigenous peoples, youth, women, and children, must be included in decision-making that affects their communities.
The clock is ticking, and the time for excuses is over. The choice is clear: Either we ensure that the wealthiest contribute their fair share to address the climate crisis or we all face a future where the consequences of inaction will be devastating.