ECO understands that the rich, polluting countries are not keen to put money on the table to help vulnerable, developing countries affected by climate change. ECO heard of a very attractive mechanism that could lower their bill–let the industry most responsible for climate change pay for the damage their product is causing.
Fossil fuels are responsible for roughly 70% of emissions. Just two of the biggest fossil fuel companies–Chevron and ExxonMobil–made US$50 billion in profit last year. Coincidentally, that’s probably how much loss and damage LDCs are facing right now.
Collectively, all vulnerable countries face $100 billion in loss and damage, the same as the annual profits of the top 13 fossil fuel companies. On top of these obscene profits, Chevron is planning to spend $35 billion exploring for new, completely unnecessary sources of fossil fuels.
Idea: make the fossil fuel industry pay a levy into the loss and damage mechanism. Problem solved.
