On 12 February, ecbi Director Benito Müller made a presentation on Climate Solidarity Levies and Alliance at the Center for International Studies at Sciences Po in Paris, France. He spoke about the Climate Solidarity Alliance (CSA) proposal, which seeks to create a coalition of national and sub-national actors willing to implement Climate Solidarity Levies. Modelled on the French air ticket solidarity tax originally proposed by French President Chirac and Brazilian President Lula in 2005, the levies would seek to generate innovative funding for addressing climate-induced loss and damage, domestically and through the recently established multilateral Fund for responding to Loss and Damage.
These levies are meant to be easily collectable and allocated both domestically and internationally, with a payback multiplier solidarity mechanism incentivising multilateral contributions from developing countries. He explained that all CSA members would be expected to set up national Climate Solidarity Funds to channel Loss and Damage funding, mentioning, as an example, Fiji’s Climate Relocation of Communities Trust Fund, and raise funding by collecting such solidarity levies. Müller added that if a developing country CSA member, say Fiji, chooses to contribute voluntarily to the multilateral Fund, then developed country members would repay that sum directly into the Fiji Fund, with a solidarity bonus to reward Fiji’s multilateral solidarity contribution. For more on the envisaged workings of the solidarity pay-back scheme, see The Functions and Responsibilities of a Climate Solidarity Alliance & the Varieties of its Membership.
Given that the French air ticket solidarity tax has raised substantial revenue – EUR 370 million in 2023 alone (with no discernible impact on air traffic or tourism) – and is collected in the Solidarity Fund for Development managed by the French Development Agency, Müller said all the tools to become a founding member of the proposed Climate Solidarity Alliance are already in place. Thus, the only thing required would be to make loss and damage eligible for funding through the Solidarity Fund for Development, which already contributes to the Green Climate Fund of the Paris Agreement.
Müller also described the way forward – as proposed in Founding the Climate Solidarity Alliance: Possible Next Steps – as building on the original 2005 collaboration between France and Brazil. He also cited French leadership in international climate finance, exemplified by its co-chairing of not only the Global Solidarity Levies Taskforce, but also the Fund for responding to Loss and Damage. He noted the aim of launching the CSA at COP30 in Belém, Brazil, which will also be the 10th anniversary of the adoption of the Paris Agreement.
Alan Anic, Oxfam France, also spoke during the event, providing more details about how to open a loss and damage window into the French Solidarity Fund. During his presentation, Anic reviewed the history and evolution of France's Solidarity Fund for Development (FSD) and how it functions, noting the Fund has provided a manner through which France can fulfil its international commitments and must, in the future, include loss and damage. He discussed ways to increase the allocation of taxes for the Fund to increase its budget.
