Nobel economist tells G-20 to slap climate tax on billionaires
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At a G20 convening of finance chiefs in Washington, Esther Duflo, co-founder and co-director of the Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab, presents her proposal for a global minimum tax on US-dollar billionaires and increased corporation tax to help alleviate the strain on developing countries when dealing with climate change. In her argument, the money should go to poor people prior to a climate shock like a heatwave, for their communities to protect them through measures like air-conditioned public spaces, and to governments for reinsurance against climate disasters.
The proposal, which seeks to generate USD 500 billion annually, is based on the premise that the vast majority of carbon emissions driving increased temperatures have historically come from the developed world—but "the costs, in particular the darkest costs in terms of human life, mainly occur in poor countries," Esther said in an interview.
Brazil has demanded that wealthy nations spend more to combat global warming. Now, as the rotating president of the Group of 20 nations, it is promoting a Nobel-winning economist’s plan to tax billionaires and corporations to alleviate the pain climate change has caused the planet’s poorest citizens.
Esther Duflo, a Massachusetts Institute of Technology professor who won the 2019 Nobel Prize in economics for her research into poverty reduction, will on Wednesday present her proposal for a global minimum tax on billionaires and increased corporate levies to G-20 finance chiefs gathered in Washington.
The plan calls for redistributing the revenues to low- and middle-income nations to compensate for lives lost due to a warming planet, and dovetails with Brazil’s desires to use its presidency of the group to fight poverty and climate change. It also adds to growing calls to raise taxes on the world’s wealthiest to help its most needy.
The proposal, which seeks to generate $500 billion annually, is based on the premise that the vast majority of carbon emissions driving increased temperatures have historically come from the developed world — but “the costs, in particular the darkest costs in terms of human life, mainly occur in poor countries,” Duflo said in a Monday interview.