UN panel calls for stronger carbon, transportation taxes

The United Nations' High Level Advisory Group on Climate Change Finance has called for a strengthening of taxes on carbon and international transportation in order to raise 100 billion dollars to help poor countries address climate change.

The report proposed a series of measures that the UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon called "financially feasible and politically viable." Specifically, it proposed a carbon price of between $20-25 per tonne, raising up to $30 billion, a tax on international transportation raising $10 billion, removal of fossil fuel subsidies generating $10 billion, with tens of billions also flowing from private capital and international financial institutions.

The group's report was designed to feed into discussion on financing at the UNFCCC meeting in Cancun. Chaired by the Prime Ministers of Norway and Ethiopia, the group includes high level representation from national governments, intergovernmental organisations, development banks and other experts including Lord Nicholas Stern and American financier George Soros.

"Unless developed country governments keep their promise to provide long-term finance, a global agreement on climate action would be nearly impossible to reach," said Greenpeace International in a statement.

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