Foreword from the Lead of the Global Solidarity Levies Task Force Secretariat
Climate change is no longer a distant threat. Its impacts are already being felt across our societies – and as we enter a world set to overshoot the Paris Agreement’s 1.5°C limit, its effects are rising.
This summer’s extreme heat and wildfires are estimated to have cost European economies around €180 billion, a sum high enough to effectively erase the bloc’s growth forecast for the year. The catastrophic floods in Nepal caused an estimated $4.7 billion in damage, equivalent to one-tenth of its economy.
These, and dozens of other examples, show how resilience is essential for every country’s economic prosperity. As we have seen in recent years, in an interconnected world where international trade relies on stable global supply chains, risks like climate change, pandemics or energy crunches transcend national boundaries and must be managed collectively.
Investing in resilience to exogenous shocks is a necessity, not a nice to have. This task also comes at a moment where nations are wrestling with the grand challenges of our time, from technological disruption and energy transition, to escalating warfare and the return of great power politics. These issues are placing ever greater demands on our leaders and the decisions they make about where to invest public finance.
The state has played a central role in every major economic transformation. Today’s remarkable shift towards clean energy – with investment in renewable energy now well above that in fossil fuels – was made possible by decades of public policy and government support.
The same leadership is now needed for resilience. Too many resilience measures still lack investment, despite their immense value to society; every dollar invested in adaptation can generate more than $10 in benefits over ten years.
Yet precisely when public investment is most needed, fiscal space is shrinking. Over two-thirds of low-income countries are at high risk of debt distress or already in it. Even across the wealthiest economies, average debt-to-GDP ratios are rising, squeezing government coffers. Decades of tax competition have eroded governments’ revenue base, with corporate tax rates falling over the past two decades and billionaires worldwide paying effective personal tax rates of as low as between 0% and 0.5%. Meanwhile, artificial intelligence and ageing populations are set to upend income tax on labour as a source of government revenue.
These observations raise fundamental questions:
- How can we ensure that governments today have the capacity to invest in our collective future?
- Will we equip governments to invest in the future of their citizens and their economies?
- Or will we allow resilience to become something only those with sufficient means can afford?
I believe one answer to these questions is solidarity levies. Nationally determined and internationally coordinated, they can strengthen domestic resource mobilisation in vulnerable countries while enabling a contribution from higher-income countries. Targeting the big polluters or those benefiting most from globalisation and using the revenues specifically to respond to the need for more resilience is extremely popular with citizens, in developed and developing countries alike. Importantly, they offer a pragmatic step on the way to more systemic reforms of our taxation systems.
This is ultimately a question of political agency. At a time when the power of governments is being challenged by crises on multiple fronts, solidarity levies can give states back the capacity to act, empowering them to invest in our collective resilience.
The work of the Global Solidarity Levies Task Force has put in place the foundations for solidarity levies to become an ever greater instrument for financing global resilience. Now, the task ahead is to implement them at scale.
Prof. Laurence Tubiana
Lead of the Global Solidarity Levies Task Force Secretariat
Special Envoy to Europe for COP30
CEO of the European Climate Foundation
“Adaptation remains an indispensable first line of defence. For Small Island Developing States (SIDS) and Least Developed Countries (LDCs), in particular, adaptation, resilience, and loss and damage need financial support that doesn’t worsen already constrained debt positions. The Climate Vulnerable Forum has long advocated for innovative finance such as smart levies which are ‘painless’ for the economy but can mobilize significant resources. The Global Solidarity Levies Task Force’s report offers a pathway for meeting the historic adaptation challenge.”
Amor Mottley
Prime Minister of Barbados
Co-Chair of the Global Solidarity Levies Task Force
Chair of the Barbados Presidency of CVF-V20
Chair of the Bridgetown Initiative
“ Antigua and Barbuda is honored to host this year’s Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting at a moment when small and climate-vulnerable states urgently need fairer and more predictable financing for resilience, financing that does not deepen already unsustainable debt burdens. CHOGM provides an important opportunity to build support for practical solutions. Those who contribute most to pollution, and those who have benefited most from globalization, should make a fair contribution to addressing the risks our countries did least to create. Properly designed and internationally coordinated solidarity levies can help turn that principle into additional finance for resilience and sustainable development. The work of the Global Solidarity Levies Task Force is essential in moving this agenda from principle to implementation.”
Gaston Browne
Prime Minister of Antigua and Barbuda
Chair of the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM)
“ Nearly 20 years ago, the Least Developed Countries proposed an international air passenger adaptation levy. The case is stronger now than ever. Witness the devastation caused by extreme weather this year alone. This will only worsen as we enter the era of 1.5°C overshoot. The Premium Flyers Solidarity Coalition is a simple but powerful way to finance resilience in our countries. It is an idea whose time has come.”
José Ramos-Horta
President of Timor-Leste
Recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize
