Environment

Environment Bishop calls on government to tax polluters to support countries most affected by climate crisis

Friday, November 8th, 2024 @ 10:29 pm

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Ahead of the forthcoming COP29 UN climate summit, Bishop John Arnold, Lead Bishop for Environmental Issues for the Bishops’ Conference, has joined his Anglican counterpart, Bishop Graham Usher of Norwich to urge the UK Government to push large polluters to contribute more towards climate finance.

Their joint letter, sent on 8 November, calls for higher taxes on fossil fuel companies to support countries most affected by the climate crisis.

As lead bishops on environmental issues Bishops Arnold and Usher emphasise that climate-vulnerable nations face an “impossible price” to protect and rebuild their communities after climate disasters. The letter presses ministers to seek new public funding from the wealthiest polluters, rather than redirecting existing aid budgets.

The bishops’ call comes ahead of the COP29 summit, set to begin in Baku, Azerbaijan, on 11 November where leaders will negotiate new international climate finance targets. They argue that the cost should not fall on those who have contributed the least to climate change but are bearing its most devastating impacts.

Highlighting the urgency of grants over loans, the bishops note that developing countries could otherwise face overwhelming debt. They also encouraged the government to tax high-polluting activities by wealthy corporations and individuals, further pressing for sustainable and ethical funding to be prioritised in UK climate policy.

COP29 runs from 11-22 November and is expected to address how countries can bridge funding gaps for those on the frontline of the climate emergency.

Joint letter

Dear Prime Minister, Chancellor Reeves, Secretary of State Miliband and Minister McCarthy,

We are writing to you as lead bishops for environmental affairs for the Church of England and the Catholic Church in England and Wales.

The purpose of our letter is to encourage the UK Government to play a constructive role in discussions to secure a New Collective Quantified Goal on Climate Finance (NCQG) when COP29 begins next week in Baku. Those in communities that have contributed least to causing the climate crisis are being forced to pay an impossible price for measures to protect their communities and rebuild from climate disasters. We recognise how critical the NCQG will be in countering this injustice and assisting countries with the costs of the climate crisis.

We urge you to work with fellow ministers at the talks to agree a goal that:

• Responds to the scale of finance needed by countries on the frontline of the climate crisis;

• Constitutes new, public money, sourced from the heaviest-polluting individuals and companies, rather than money recycled from existing pots of aid finance; and

• Consists of grants, rather than loans that will add to low-income countries’ existing and crippling debts.

We make this appeal cognisant of pressures on public finance around the world – including here in the UK. But work from CAFOD and Christian Aid has shown how the governments of rich countries, such as the UK, can ensure developing countries have access to greater sums of money for international climate finance without increasing costs for ordinary taxpayers.

As such, we also urge you to consider the following:

• Taxing polluting activities undertaken by those who can most afford to pay. This would contribute to remedying the injustice of the wealthiest companies and individuals profiting from environmental damage and will help to incentivise the transition to renewables. To this end, we welcome the Government’s announcement in the Budget of an increase in air passenger duty on private jet flights. We encourage the Government to ensure levies on oil and gas companies’ profits more adequately reflect the enormous harm caused by pollution from fossil fuels.

• Legislating to compel private creditors to resolve debts for countries in crisis on the same terms as governments and multilateral institutions. This would mean climate-vulnerable countries would not face a choice between paying huge interest bills to overseas lenders and paying to protect their communities from the climate crisis.

• Supporting calls for recycling more Special Drawing Rights and allocating a larger proportion to low-income, climate-vulnerable countries. This would provide more finance for these countries to invest in measures to tackle the crisis: protecting communities and enabling greater prosperity.

The fact that those who have contributed least to causing the climate crisis, face an unaffordable bill for its impacts is an injustice we cannot tolerate as a country. The consistent support from Church communities for campaigns for action on climate change by Christian Aid and CAFOD is testament to the desire of countless Christians across the UK for the Government to show leadership on this issue. We urge you to ensure your government plays the strongest possible role in remedying this injustice.

With our prayers and best wishes for your work in the weeks ahead,

Yours sincerely,

Rt Revd John Arnold
Bishop of Salford

Rt Revd Graham Usher
Bishop of Norwich