Sarah Rees, head of Oxfam Cymru, argues the cost of Wales’ transition to Net Zero should not be shouldered by the poorest in society.
It’s official; our planet has recorded its hottest summer ever in the Northern Hemisphere with unprecedented sea surface temperatures and extreme weather, according to the UN weather agency.
These blistering temperatures – and the wildfires, drought, disruption and death that come in their wake – leave us in no doubt that extreme weather is on the increase – becoming more frequent, more intense, and more deadly.
The fact is that while the energy giants pump up their profits, the world is struggling to meet the cost of dealing with the impacts of climate change and the transition to net zero.
It is bleakly ironic that while brutal heat engulfs vast swathes of the planet, toppling temperature records on an extraordinary scale – last year big fossil fuel companies broke their own records – with unprecedented profits.
The ‘big five’ oil and gas companies saw their already colossal revenues more than double in 2022 with their combined profit of $200bn. So far in 2023 they’ve already announced billions of pounds more in profits.
The fact is that while the energy giants pump up their profits, the world is struggling to meet the cost of dealing with the impacts of climate change and the transition to net zero.
That’s why today Oxfam is calling for the climate culprits to be compelled to pay up: as we release a new report which shows that fair taxes on the UK’s biggest polluters could have raised up to £23 billion last year had they been implemented.
Our report, Payment Overdue, Fair ways to make polluters across the UK pay for climate justice, shows that by targeting those who are most responsible for emissions, the UK Government can quickly and fairly raise much-needed funds for climate action while ensuring the burden does not fall disproportionately on ordinary households.
Such action is imperative because we all know that climate change is an issue deeply rooted in fairness. Anyone can see it’s just plain wrong that, despite having done least to cause the climate emergency, millions of people in East Africa face dying of hunger thanks to a devastating drought which wouldn’t have happened without climate change.
And it’s also not right that here in Wales, ordinary people are struggling to pay soaring energy bills while fossil fuel companies rake in billions of pounds in profits.
But there’s no sugar coating the fact that the transition to net zero – and associated overhaul of our economy and society – is going to be expensive. Nobody knows that better than the Welsh Government, who already face a £900 million budgetary black hole.
Who foots the bill is a simple matter of fairness.
That’s why Oxfam is recommending that the UK Government enacts a series of common-sense revenue raising measures designed to make polluters pay for their damage, while ensuring the pockets of the poorest households are protected.
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Options include a redesigned excess profits tax on fossil fuel companies; redirecting existing fossil fuel subsidies; a frequent flyer levy and new taxes on the use of private jets and superyachts; as well as ringfencing 20 per cent of the proceeds from a system that fairly taxes wealth for climate action.
Clearly, the significant sums of money which could be raised by these measures should be spent on climate action.
Illustrative modelling suggests that if the UK Government had spent just over a fifth of the ext revenue raised by the taxes Oxfam proposes on green public transport in England, up to £86 million in additional funds would have been available to the Welsh Government via Barnett consequentials.
Imagine the impact that extra money could have: it could be enough money to make all single bus fares across Wales £1.50.
With global temperatures soaring, never has there been a more important time for Mark Drakeford to press Rishi Sunak to turn up the heat on fossil fuel companies and the high-emitting behaviours of the wealthiest people.
Investing in buses would be a no brainer for the Welsh Government: it wouldn’t just make Wales greener but would also make buses – disproportionately used by women and people living in poverty – more affordable.
We’ve all seen the warnings that up to a quarter of Wales’ existing services could be withdrawn without greater Welsh Government investment: a disastrous scenario for the people on low incomes who are reliant on buses to get to work and to access local services.
At Oxfam Cymru, we believe that further subsidising bus travel would be an important first step in a wider package of measures needed to reduce transport emissions and make public transport in Wales more reliable, affordable and accessible.
But there’s no use in spending imaginary money. The First Minister must help secure it: pressing the Prime Minister to implement the sorts of fair taxes Oxfam is recommending.
With global temperatures soaring, never has there been a more important time for Mark Drakeford to press Rishi Sunak to turn up the heat on fossil fuel companies and the high-emitting behaviours of the wealthiest people.
People and planet must be put before profit and greed, for the sake of us all – now – before it is too late. It’s time the biggest polluters were compelled to cough up: their payment is already long overdue.
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