As part of the Latin American and Caribbean Network for a Sustainable Financial System (REDFIS), we co-organised a webinar on the intersection between fiscal and climate justice, with a particular focus on the open platforms for negotiation of progressive fiscal reforms in the international sphere and their relevance for the achievement of adequate financing of adaptation and mitigation measures to deal with the climate emergency.

This virtual event was attended by 95 representatives from a wide array of regional CSOs grouped in REDFIS, spanning fiscal and tax justice organisations to climate and Indigenous movements from within the Latin America and Caribbean region.

Our Executive Director, Magdalena Sepulveda, moderated the event. Ezequiel Steuermann, Associate Programme Officer on Economic Justice, participated on the panel and delivered a substantive intervention on the need to establish a global minimum tax on the ultra-rich at an international level from a human rights perspective.

During his intervention, Ezequiel focused on the existence of a simultaneous momentum between two interplaying agendas. On the one hand, progressive reforms to the international financial architecture (including the current discussion of the terms of reference to the future United Nations Framework Convention on International Tax Cooperation), and on the other, climate financing debates leading up to COP29 in Baku, Azerbaijan. 

As an example of progressive initiatives which can serve as a way to catalyse the effective transfer of resources from the Global North to developing countries to build climate resilience, Ezequiel introduced Gabriel Zucman's blueprint proposal on a global minimum standard on the taxation of the ultra-rich, which is being promoted by Brazil at both the G20 and -more recently, after a recent declaration supporting progressive fiscal reforms by this organisation- at the United Nations. 

The large audience that joined the event, added to the diversity of panelists and organisations that formed part of the discussion, highlighted the need to enhance joint efforts to promote these two simultaneous agendas on a synergic basis. It is essential to bridge the gap between fiscal and climate debates and organisations, showcasing the importance of bringing an interdisciplinary analysis to the relevant events of each of the two agendas to provide concrete fiscal tools to effectively achieve climate financing that is compliant with both human rights and climate-specific legal obligations.

Watch the presentation here.