NEWS

NEWS 2025.06.30

An Open Letter for World Leaders at This Year’s Financing for Development Conference

*This article is originally published at Global Citizen website.

 

Climate protestors advocate for action, justice, and finance for vulnerable communities outside the United Nations annual climate change conference COP28 in 2023. Image: MídiaNINJA

Dear World Leaders,

We’re running out of time: climate change is the single greatest challenge facing humanity. While budgets for international aid and climate action are being cut in key donor countries, we call on you to support solidarity levies. These innovative solutions can catalyse climate and development finance in line with the Baku to Belèm Roadmap’s goal of mobilizing $1.3 trillion until 2035 — at FFD4, COP30, and within the UN Framework Convention on International Tax Cooperation.

New data shows we’re already crossing the 1.5°C threshold of global warming — the time for half-measures is over. Climate and development crises are worsening at an alarming rate, marked by deadly hurricanes, searing heatwaves, and at least 343 million people suffering from acute hunger in 2025. Yet, while ordinary people bear the brunt of these disasters, the biggest polluters continue to rake in billions while paying next to nothing for the damage they cause.

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Solidarity levies, designed to generate urgently needed funds, can help us finance climate transitions and development aid. Rooted in the principle of equity, these policies ensure that those with the greatest financial means and the highest carbon emissions contribute more to the shared responsibility. We urge world leaders to endorse the following options, as they offer unmatched potential and proven viability to raise new funds, all while contributing to social and economic justice.

Aviation accounts for 12% of global transport emissions, with jet fuel remaining largely untaxed. A levy of €0.33 per liter of jet fule could raise $18 billion annually, or a tax on aviation tickets could generate $121 billion globally.


Fossil fuel companies are responsible for over 75% of global emissions while raking in astronomical profits. In 2023 alone, the global oil and gas industry earned record income of more than $2.7 trillion, while they invested just 4% of capital expenditure on clean energy. A small $5 per tonne CO2e levy on fossil fuel extraction could generate $216 billion annually, with a permanent levy on profits potentially raising hundreds of billions more.


Financial transactions generate massive profits but fail to invest in climate or development. A 0.5% levy on equities and intraday transactions could raise up to $485 billion globally.


Billionaires pay less than 2% in taxes on average, even as their investments pump out more than 3 million tonnes of carbon emissions each year. A small 2% wealth levy on the top 3,000 wealthiest individuals could generate up to $250 billion annually and curb emissions.


Now is the time to act and to implement the solutions at hand. We must make a bold move towards climate and development finance and greater tax justice. We urge you to fully endorse the Global Solidarity Levies Task Force’s work, to work on levies to be adopted in coalition-of-the-willing formats at the Fourth Financing for Development Summit this June in Sevilla and at COP30 next November in Belèm, all while fully supporting the the UN Framework Convention on International Tax Cooperation.

Our future depends on your leadership — for our planet, and for generations to come.

Sincerely,

55,759 Global Citizens

47 NGOs representing 231 organizations around the globe

  • 350.org
  • A Sud
  • Accountability Lab
  • Action Aid International
  • Action Santé Mondiale / Global Health Advocates
  • Agronomes et vétérinaires sans frontières (AVSF) – France
  • Amref Health Africa (France)
  • APIT Portugal
  • Ban Ki-moon Centre for Global Citizens
  • CAFOD
  • Center for Economic and Social Rights (CESR)
  • Centre for Feminist Foreign Policy
  • Christian Aid
  • Coordination SUD
  • Don’t Gas Africa
  • ECCO – The Italian Climate Change Think Tank
  • EcoEquity
  • Entrepreneurship Initiative for African Youth (EIFAY Africa)
  • Equipop
  • FIACAT
  • Friends of the Global Fund Europe
  • Fundação SOS Mata Atlântica
  • Geledés – Instituto da Mulher Negra (geledés – black women institute)
  • Germanwatch e.V.
  • Glasgow Actions Team
  • Global Cooperation Institute
  • Global Policy Forum Europe
  • Global Witness
  • Green Economy Coalition
  • Greenpeace Africa
  • Greenpeace International
  • Innovea Development Foundation
  • Instituto Libio
  • JANIC
  • Loss & Damage Youth Coalition
  • Maison d’Assistance Locale aux Miséreux en sigle MALM
  • MENAFem Movement for Economic, Development and Ecological Justice
  • Norwegian Church Aid
  • Pandemic Action Network
  • Patriotic Millionaires UK
  • Project Everyone
  • SDG2 Advocacy Hub
  • Sharing Strategies
  • Tax Justice UK
  • The ONE Campaign
  • Think Equal
  • WWF-International

  • Two Distinguished Personalities:

    • Sabrina Elba, Model, Activist and UN Goodwill Ambassador
    • H.E. Stefan Löfven, Former Prime Minister of Sweden