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Throughout the world, the summer of 2022 was deadly: repeated heat waves, forest fires, floods on an unprecedented scale… No one can doubt that climate change is accelerating and risks becoming uncontrollable.
To make up for lost time, money is the heart of the matter.
Considerable sums must be found to deal with the current food crisis, but also to finance the insulation of buildings, public transport and renewable energies, to help the countries of the global South to deal with losses and damages caused by climate change, to help the countries that agree to stop deforestation and those that give up the exploitation of their gas or oil reserves…
This question of financing is absolutely crucial, but it has already caused many disappointments due to unfulfilled promises in the past.
How can we build a new momentum? How can we find new financial resources?
With financial markets at very high levels and excessive profits being made the debate on the Financial Transactions Tax is coming back
This tax, which the UNDP has been supporting since 2011, also has the support of Joe Biden in the United States and of the European Parliament, which highlighted at the end of 2020 in its Report on the financing of the Climate Plan that, at the European level alone (and despite Brexit), a small tax of 0.1% on Financial Transactions could generate up to 57 billion euros per year, without hurting the finances of the majority of people.
In December 2020, the European Commission recalled that an agreement on the financial transaction tax was possible via “enhanced cooperation” (unanimity is not required on this subject!) and declared that it hoped for an agreement before the end of 2022.
The end of 2022 is here, and no agreement has yet been reached… COVID-19 and the war in Ukraine have of course been the focus of the European Heads of States for the last two years, but it is now more urgent than ever to reach an agreement to create this FTT.
57 billion euros each year does not solve all problems, but could have a major effect on current negotiations.
Creating a tax on financial transactions is feasible in one year. It would only be a first step, but a decisive one, which would allow us to rebuild a strong momentum, in Europe as well as in the Global South, while creating a very large number of sustainable jobs everywhere.
This is why the signatories of this appeal urge European leaders to conclude as soon as possible the negotiations on the creation of an FTT, the main part of the revenues of which would be directly oriented towards climate action in Europe and Africa. The signatories also call on the leaders of countries that signed the Paris Agreement to cooperate in setting up similar taxes.
First signatories
- Laurence TUBIANA – President of the European Climate Foundation, Negotiator of the Paris Agreements
- Jose RAMOS-HORTA – President of the Democratic Republic of East Timor
- Maria Fernanda Espinosa – former President of the United Nations General Assembly
- Aminata Touré – former Prime Minister of Senegal
- Patrick Ten BRINK – Secretary General of the European Environmental Bureau
- Fortune CHARUMBIRA – President of Pan-African Parliament, Zimbabwe
- Karim DARWISH – Member of Parliament of Egypt, Chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee
- Bantu Bonke Harrington HOLOMISA – Member of Parliament of South Africa, former minister of Nelson Mandela
- Rasmus Andresen – German member of the European Parliament
- Dr. Sanjay JAISWAL – Member of Parliament of India (Lok Sabha)
- Jean JOUZEL – Climatologist, former Vice-President of the IPCC
- Kako NUBUKPO – Former Minister of Togo, Commissioner in charge of Agriculture, Water Resources and Environment of the West African Economic and Monetary Union (WAEMU), Togo
- Nahim Razzaq – member of Parliament of Bangladesh
- Pierre LARROUTUROU – Member of the European Parliament, General Rapporteur for the 2021 EU budget
65 parliamentarians from the European Union (11 countries) and from +20 African, Asian and Latin American countries:
- Dr. Bimala Rai PAUDYAL – Member of the Nahmal Assembly, Federal Parliament of Nepal
- Salisu Mohammed DAHIRU – Director General, National Council on Climate Change, Nigeria
- Essossimna BALOUKI – Member of the Pan-African Parliament, Member of Parliament for Togo, Chair of the Committee on External Relations and Cooperation
- Vicent WILLIE – Member of Parliament of Liberia, Chairman of the Energy and Environment Committee
- Juan Carlos LOSADA VARGAS – Member of Parliament of Colombia
- Didier Molisho SADI – Senator of the DRC, Member of the Pan-African Parliament
- Hon. Samuel ONUIGBO – Member of the House of Representatives of Nigeria
- Hon. Aishatu Jibril DUKKU – Member of the House of Representatives of Nigeria
- Hon. Toby OKECHUKWU – Member of the House of Representatives of Nigeria
- Hon. Solomon Maren BULUS – Member of the House of Representatives of Nigeria
- Hon. Ahmed MUNIR – Member of House of Representatives of Nigeria
- Jérémie ADOMAHOU – Member of Parliament of Benin
- Euric GUIDI – Member of Parliament of Benin
- Dave William BRYANT – Member of Parliament of South Africa
- Tanvir Shakil JOY – Member of Parliament of Bangladesh
- Hon. Timothy Lusaka BATUWA – Member of Parliament of Uganda
- Biyika Lawrence SONGA – Member of Parliament of Uganda
- Alain LLUNGA – Senator of DRC
- Mashakada TAPIWA – Member of Parliament of Zimbabwe
- Yacouba SANGARE – Member of Parliament of Côte d’Ivoire
- Lambert KAHIBA – Member of Parliament of Côte d’Ivoire
- Sidibe DAOUDA – Member of Parliament of Côte d’Ivoire
- Diabate Massara EPSE TOURE – Member of Parliament of Côte d’Ivoire
- Euphrasie N’GUESSAN – Member of Parliament of Côte d’Ivoire
- Hon. Dr. Laetitia NYINAWAMWIZA – Senator of Rwanda, Vice-Chair of the Standing Committee on Economic Development and Finance
- Ilaya ISMAEL – Member of Parliament of Djibouti
- Abdo ISSA – Member of Parliament of Djibouti
- Hassan ADEN – Member of Parliament of Djibouti
- Abdourahman AWALEH – Member of Parliament of of Djibouti
- Abdallah BARKAT – Member of Parliament of Djibouti
- Abdi Issa BOULALEH – Member of Parliament of Djibouti
- Abourou Otogo RODRIGUE – Member of Parliament of Gabon
- Hon. Gizella TETTEH-AGBOTUI – Member of Parliament of Ghana
- Hon. Yusif SULEMANA – Member of Parliament of Ghana
- Hon. Dzifa Abla GOMASHIE – Member of Parliament of Ghana
- Rosana SCHAACK – Member of Parliament of Liberia
- Hon. Njong EVARISTUS – Member of the Pan-African Parliament, Member of Parliament of Cameroon
- Hon. Njume PETER AMBAGNG – Member of Parliament of Cameroon
- Fatoumatta NJAI – Member of Parliament of The Gambia
- Marie ARENA – Member of the European Parliament, S&D, BE
- Rasmus ANDRESEN – Member of the European Parliament, Greens/EFA, DE
- Manon AUBRY – Member of the European Parliament, Left, FR
- Brando BENIFEI – Member of the European Parliament, S&D, IT
- Michael BLOSS – Member of the European Parliament, Greens/EFA, DE
- Milan BRGLEZ – Member of the European Parliament, S&D, SI
- Antoni COMIN – Member of the European Parliament, N/A, ES
- Pascal DURAND – Member of the European Parliament, Renew, FR
- Claude GRUFFAT – Member of the European Parliament, Greens/EFA, FR
- Petros KOKKALIS – Member of the European Parliament, Left, GR
- Margarida MARQUES – Member of the European Parliament, S&D, PT
- Karen MELCHIOR – Member of the European Parliament, Renew, DN
- Dimitrios PAPADIMOULIS – Member of the European Parliament, Left, GR
- Sirpa PIETIKÄINEN – Member of the European Parliament, EPP, FI
- Clara PONSATI – Member of the European Parliament, N/A, ES
- Carles PUIGDEMONT – Member of the European Parliament, N/A, ES
- Eugenia RODRIGUEZ PALOP – Member of the European Parliament, Left, ES
- Soraya RODRIGUEZ – Member of the European Parliament, Renew, ES
- Caroline ROOSE – Member of the European Parliament, Greens/EFA, FR
- Domènec RUIZ DEVESA – Member of the European Parliament, S&D, ES
- Maria SPYRAKI – Member of the European Parliament, EPP, GR
- Marie POCHON – Member of Parliament of France, EELV-NUPES
- Bryony WORTHINGTON – Senator, UK
Other signatories, climate scientists, NGOs and politicians
- Cardinal Jean-Claude HOLLERICH sj – President of the Commission of the Bishops’ Conferences of the European Union
- Adélaïde CHARLIER – Activist, Co-founder of Youth For Climate
- Arnaud SCHWARTZ – President of FNE
- Sandrine DIXSON DECLEVE – Co-President of The Club of Rome
- Mohamed EL-HAJJI – Organiser of Fridays For Future Marocco
- Hans-Josef FELL – Former German Member of Parliament, President of Energy Watch Group
- Arni FINNSSON – Chairman of the Board of the Icelandic Association for Nature Conservation
- Benoît HALGAN – Member of pour un Réveil Écologique
- Prof. Lesley HUGHES – Professor Emeritus of Biology, Macquarie University, Australia
- Licypriya KANGUJAM – Climate and environmental activist; founder of the Child Movement; special envoy of the President of East Timor
- Tessa KHAN – Executive Director and founder of Uplift
- Paul MAGNETTE – President of the Belgian Socialist Party
- Laura MOROSINI – European Director of the Laudato Si Movement
- Michal NACHMANY – Founder and Director of Climate Policy Radar
- Rinah RANDRIANARIVELO – Coordinator of the French campaigns of the Laudato Si Movement
- Matthieu RICARD
- Thomas BART – Researcher and author of several reports on the Tilenga and EACOP projects in Uganda and Tanzania
- Maria João RODRIGUES – Former Minister of Portugal, President of the Foundation for European Progressive Studies (FEPS)
- Dennis SNOWER – President of the Global Solutions Initiative, Berlin; Fellow, The New Institute, Hamburg
- Mitzi Jonelle TAN – International Spokesperson, Youth Advocates for Climate Action Philippines
- Simon TAYLOR – Co-founder and director of Global Witness, co-founder of the Publish What You Pay campaign, “Champion” of the Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty
- Wendel TRIO – Climate Policy Expert
- Arvind VENKATARAMANA – Executive Director Centre for Sustainability, Innovation and Good Governance
- Katharina WIESE – Senior Policy Officer for Economic Transition and Gender Equality, European Environmental Bureau