Tax oil-rich countries which made super profits last year, demands Gordon Brown

25 September 2023 , 11:18

507     0

Gordon Brown was Prime Minister from June 2007 to May 2010 (Image: Getty Images)

Gordon Brown today demanded a global tax on countries which banked “staggering'' profits from the high price of oil last year

The former Prime Minister said the windfall levy would help poorer nations in the fight against climate change. Nations such as Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Qatar and Norway benefited from a "lottery-style bonanza" after their profits more than doubled in 2022 following the spike in the global oil price, the ex-Labour leader said.

Speaking ahead of the COP28 summit in Dubai later this year, Mr Brown said a global windfall levy would help kickstart a wider agreement for a climate finance fund. Mr Brown said: "Petro-states have recorded almost unimaginable profits from the rise in oil price in recent years. Pre-Covid, global oil and gas revenues were, according to the International Energy Association running at $1.5trillion a year (£1.2tn) - in 2022, they soared to an unprecedented $4tn dollars (£3.3tn).

"To put these extraordinary figures into context, $4tn dollars is 20 times the entire global aid budget. It is an income so big that it exceeds the entire GDP of the United Kingdom. These producer states have done literally nothing to earn these extra profits. It represents one of the biggest-ever transfers of wealth from poor to rich nations. I am therefore calling on these states which have benefited so much to contribute to a new global windfall levy to help the fight against climate change."

"Given that the high price of oil and gas has been the principal reason why an additional 141 million people have been pushed into extreme poverty, it is the very least they could do." Support for such a levy could trigger a wider agreement at the COP28 summit which begins on November 30, the former PM said. He has written to the new G20 chairman, Brazilian President Lula da Silva, asking him to hold a pre-COP28 summit with the Opec states to agree the plan for the levy.

Teachers, civil servants and train drivers walk out in biggest strike in decade

Mr Brown added: "The consequences of such a grand gesture would be immense." The ex-Premier is the UN's special envoy for global education and the World Health Organisation's ambassador for global health financing.

* Follow Mirror Politics on Snapchat, Tiktok, Twitter and Facebook

Ben Glaze