Nobel-Winning Economist Calls For Climate Tax On Billionaires

And she called for the money to be sent directly to the world’s most climate-vulnerable people.

by Arielle Samuelson, Heated

For the first time, the world’s most powerful countries are considering a proposal that would tax the super rich and send the money directly to the people on the front lines of the climate crisis.

The proposed climate tax is the brainchild of Nobel Prize-winning economist Esther Duflo, who presented it to the Group of 20 summit in Washington D.C. last Wednesday. Duflo suggested taxing global corporations and the world’s top billionaires to raise money for climate adaptation in countries that are most impacted by the climate crisis. The funds would be directly sent to the poorest individuals in those countries to help them prepare for climate disasters.

Concerned students across Australia and around the world gather in protest for School Strike For Climate 2019.

“Richer citizens emit much more than poorer citizens,” Duflo wrote in her proposal to the G20. But the brunt of extreme heat will be felt by poorer citizens who tend to live in hotter regions of the world. “Moreover, poverty makes it harder to adapt to warm temperatures,” she said.

This is the first time that a climate tax has been suggested on a world stage. The proposal comes amid new research that estimates that rising temperatures will cost $38 trillion per year in damages to agriculture, labor productivity, and infrastructure. The vast majority of that damage has been caused by the emissions of rich nations, including the U.S. and European countries.