Kenya calls for global transport tax to fund climate action – Watt gets along with it?

Eric Worrall's paper

“…Funds must flow directly and predictably to developing countries…”

March 24, 2025

Comments, Finance, Politics

It's time for shipments to file first global taxes on the pollution sector

Ambassador Ali Mohamed

Decarbonization is a strategic priority for a sustainable trade system, which can also create climate financing for disadvantaged countries.

Ambassador Ali Mohamed is Kenya's special envoy for climate change.

Kenya is the front line of casualties in the climate crisis. Upgraded temperatures, unpredictable rainfall, and prolonged droughts are cutting food production, draining water and undermining our economic stability. Our coastal ecosystems are crucial to the “blue economy” and are surrounded by sea level rise, coral bleaching and accelerated erosion.

These are not abstract threats; they are demolishing the livelihoods of millions of Kenyans who rely on agricultural and marine resources. However, Kenya's plight did not cause itself. Industrialized countries and their huge historical emissions are primarily responsible for this crisis. According to common but differentiated principles, those who aggravate climate change must lead funding solutions.

The proposed carbon tax provides a transformative opportunity for the shipping industry, a place where Kenya urgently supports to provide climate financing and decarbonize while it is most needed.

The shipping industry is a key figure in global trade and he is ready to pioneer a new era of climate financing. At the United Nations International Maritime Organization (IMO), the government is reaching an agreement on the taxation of carbon emissions from transport and the decision of the Marine Environmental Protection Commission (MEPC) 83 Summit held in London in April 2025.

If enacted, it would be the first universal tax on the international pollution sector, a precedent move. The World Bank estimates that such taxation could raise $60 billion a year, using important funds to climate adaptation and mitigation in vulnerable countries such as Kenya.

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Equity is also crucial. Funds must flow directly and predictably to the developing countries, bypassing the bureaucracy that has long been receiving climate financing in the global South. …
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Read more: https://www.climatechangenews.com/2025/03/24/its time-for-for-shipping-to-launch-first-first-global-tax-on-on-aa-polluting-sector/

Obviously, this special need is a situation of bad timing. However, Kenya or some other African or “global South” representatives repeat this requirement every year. You will never know that if a country like Kenya keeps begging, sooner or later someone will be in trouble and give them money.

It's not that Kenya needs money. According to CIA World Facebook, Kenya's GDP in 2023 is $314 billion, which is comparable to the Finnish economy. They can afford their own climate action.

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