Skip to main content
< Back to all posts 21 September 2023

We’re making strides in our campaign to tax the biggest polluters

Our campaign to tax the most polluting companies and super rich individuals – and invest that money in renewables and the green transition – is growing.

This week Oxfam came out in favour of taxing the UK’s biggest polluters , citing our research.

They want to see fossil fuel companies and the super rich  pay much higher taxes. The charity estimates this could raise £23 billion a year. We fully back their call.

This money could be invested directly into the green transition: in renewable energy and public transport infrastructure, creating high quality jobs in the process.

A tax on emissions would ensure the wealthiest and biggest polluters pay the most for tackling climate change. It’s so important to avoid the bulk of the cost of dealing with the climate crisis falling on ordinary people.

As the catastrophic effects of environmental and climate breakdown become clearer, it’s never been more urgent that we bring more and more partners onboard with our campaign.

A huge civil society group like Oxfam coming out in favour of taxes to help deal with climate change is a big step in the right direction.

We also joined together with 400 businesses and civil society groups yesterday to push back against Rishi Sunak’s plans to water down the UK’s net zero policies. You can read the letter here .

We have the ear of MPs

Not only are we building coalitions with big partners, we’re also making inroads with MPs.

We regularly meet with senior politicians to make the case for a fair approach to tax and climate.

Our Executive Director Robert Palmer is also on TV and radio, promoting our message – and pushing back against those defending fossil fuel giants.

If you didn’t see it, Robert was on GB News last week debating Jacob Rees-Mogg on why a windfall tax on highly profitable North Sea oil and gas companies is a good idea.

This is the work we’re doing week-in, week-out: building movements and partnerships – and spreading the message about progressive tax reform in the media, with politicians and the wider public.