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Call for taxes on international aviation to tackle climate change

Taxes on international flights could provide money for developing countries to tackle greenhouse gas emissions and cope with the impact of climate breakdown.

That’s the view of a group of climate finance experts, according to the Guardian, which reports the academics’ stance in the journal Nature Climate Change.

“Rich countries are failing on their pledge to provide $100 billion a year to help poor countries cope with the climate crisis, and the way in which climate finance is organised needs urgent reform, the six academics argue in an article in the journal Nature Climate Change,” said the Guardian.

The group of six experts – from the US, Europe and Bangladesh – call for clear rules on what counts as climate finance.

“They say charging levies on international flights and on bunker fuels – high-carbon fuels used by ships – could provide a steady stream of climate finance to the countries that need it,” said the Guardian.

“Emissions from international aviation and shipping are excluded from countries’ emissions tallies under the Paris agreement, so there are limited ways at present of encouraging their reduction.”

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