Oxfam calls for £34 billion per annum to help poor cope with climate change

Green taxes on pollution, aviation and shipping should contribute to a £34 billion annual fund to help poorer countries adapt to climate change, according to Oxfam.

By Louise Gray, Environment Correspondent Last Updated: 7:38PM GMT 02 Dec 2008

The charity say the fund should be set up as part of this week's UN Climate Change conference in Poznan, Poland, to help people coping with floods and drought in the wake of climate change.
Charging heavy industry and transport for emissions is controversial but representatives said business would welcome the money going toward the environment rather than straight to governments.
In a new report, "Turning Carbon into Gold," Oxfam said that rather than asking taxpayers to foot the bill for climate change, polluters should pay.
The organisation claims £34 billion could be raised every year by 2015 through charging the most carbon heavy industries around the world for the right to pollute. This would remove the need for the UK to find at least £1.8bn of its fair share towards the adaptation fund.
The money would go towards helping countries vulnerable to flooding to develop early warning systems and providing seeds for "drought tolerant" crops.
Heather Coleman, Oxfam's senior climate change policy adviser, said: "With a global financial crisis unfolding, these mechanisms could raise enough money from polluters without governments having to dip into national treasuries.
"Billions of dollars can be raised and invested to prevent future climate change and to help poor people adapt to the negative impacts of global warming."
Michael Carrivick, chief executive of the Board of Airline Representatives, said the industry was expecting to pay for carbon emissions past 2012 and would welcome the money going toward the world's poor rather than into governments' pockets.
The two week conference in Poznan will decide on what shape a new deal to replace the Kyoto Protocol will take. Delegates are expected to decide on whether the world should commit to binding targets to cut carbon emissions, new measures to halt deforestation and an adaptation fund to help poorer countries cope with climate change.