The Paris summit, hosted by French President Emmanuel Macron, discusses climate and finance and was attended by US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, China’s Prime Minister Li Qiang, Brazil’s President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, President of the European Commission and the heads of the World Bank and IMF.
Many are disappointed by the results of the conference
Many are disappointed by the results of the conference, as it did not announce a highly wanted tax on greenhouse gas emissions from international shipping. However, it may still be adopted at the July meeting of the International Maritime Organization of the UN. However, given that this tax had the potential of generating $100bn every year, used for the impacts of climate change in developing countries, many are let down that this historic achievement will not be attributed to Paris.
Macron said that the US and China representatives were not in favour of the tax, and that “If China and the US and several key European countries are not on-board, then you would put a tax in place that would not have any impact.”
The summit did discuss a number of other key things however, like a debt suspension clause for countries hit by extreme climatic events. Some pushed for a tax on fossil fuels and other asked for taxation on financial transactions, but did not gain traction. The IMF did make assets worth $100bn called special drawing rights accessible to vulnerable countries.
Other than that, Zambia, who was severely in debt, has struck deals with several creditors like China to restructure $6.3bn in loans. Senegal agreed with the European Union and other Western allies about access and shares to renewable energy.
