Eight countries including France, Spain and Kenya are pushing for increased taxation on premium air tickets and private jet travel to fund climate action and development.

The newly formed “coalition of the willing”, which also includes Barbados, Somalia, Benin, Sierra Leone and Antigua and Barbuda, aims to increase the number of countries applying such levies and agree on ways to distribute the money raised.

They are expected to announce details of how the mechanism would work at the COP30 climate summit this November, with changes in their own national legislation planned as soon as next year, Climate Home News understands.

The initiative was launched this week on the sidelines of the UN Financing for Development (FFD4) summit in Seville, Spain, where representatives from governments, financial institutions and civil society are debating how to channel more money towards efforts to tackle climate change, hunger and health issues in the face of sweeping aid cuts.

“We need those that benefited from globalisation to contribute more to financing,” French President Emmanuel Macron said. “I urge all possible countries to join this international framework because it is absolutely key.”

‘Coalition of the willing’

The coalition on premium flying levies was born out of the Global Solidarity Levies Task Force, which since its launch in 2023 has been looking at ways to raise new sources of finance for climate and development from sectors that contribute disproportionately to global carbon emissions or are undertaxed, such as aviation, fossil fuels or financial transactions.

Friederike Röder, director of the task force’s secretariat, told Climate Home that targeting aviation first is a “very pragmatic” choice as levies can be introduced domestically by a “coalition of the willing” without the need for an international agreement.

“It’s something that can be put in place quite quickly, it makes sense economically speaking from a tax justice and climate perspective, and can generate a significant sum,” she said.

Levies on business and first-class tickets for international and domestic flights and on kerosene used for private jets could raise respectively up to 37 billion euros ($43.7 billion) and 41 billion euros ($48.5 billion) per year if implemented globally, according to recent research commissioned by the Global Solidarity Levies Task Force.

The aviation sector accounts for over 2.5% of energy-related carbon dioxide emissions, and is one of the sectors with the fastest-growing greenhouse gas emissions.

Fresh cash for resilience spending

Putting taxes on air passenger fares to find extra cash for global emergencies is not an entirely new concept. Since 2011, levies on plane tickets in countries including France have raised over $2 billion for Unitaid, an initiative supporting the treatment of those affected by HIV, tuberculosis and malaria in low-income countries.

The coalition will now work to “thrash out” the exact contours of the initiative before this year’s UN climate summit in Belém, Brazil, hoping that other countries will join in, Röder said.

One element that will be defined as part of a public consultation is how the funds will be spent. The French Presidency said in a statement on Monday that “all or parts of the proceeds” would be channelled into “resilient investments and fair transitions”.

Röder expects that rich countries like France will spend part of the proceeds on initiatives in vulnerable nations facing the brunt of the climate crisis, but they will also keep some money for actions to boost resilience at home. “This would be a powerful signal because it would show that levies are used for global public goods,” she added.

Solidarity levies come to the fore

Governments across the world have shown renewed interest in tapping into “innovative” sources of cash for climate action amid tightening state budgets or changing priorities, such as increased defence spending.

Röder said levies are the best option to find “truly additional and debt-free” financing for climate adaptation and loss and damage.

The Brazilian government is looking to feature the so-called solidarity levies in the “Baku-to-Belém” roadmap to boost climate finance for developing countries. The document due out in November should lay out a plan for mobilising $1.3 trillion a year by 2035 after developed countries committed to raise only $300 billion annually at COP29 last year.

“Solidarity levies need to be a critical piece of the puzzle,” said Röder, but “should not be used to allow advanced economies to escape their commitments and responsibilities”.