How citizens can help drive the private sector to climate justice

Introduction

The private sector has responded to the greatest threat facing people and the planet by sending more delegates to COP29 than the number of country delegates. 

According to UK-based charity War on Want and the Guardian, at least 1,733 coal, oil, and gas lobbyists have insider access to climate negotiations, more than the 10 most climate-vulnerable countries combined.

Like climate summits before, many of us return home brow-beaten by government and private sector inaction and their obfuscation of the threat of climate change. We need action plans that build the people, power capable of transitioning us away from fossil fuels. We must also remember that when we talk about climate justice, we mean overcoming global injustices of inequalities and racism, as the same political and economic systems are responsible.

Climate inaction is a political choice to protect business

When we demand government officials spend more on renewables and public transport to lower greenhouse gasses for example, they respond by saying budgets are like a household’s: ‘only what comes in through the door can be spent’. They argue budgets are finite and there is no ‘magic money tree’.

So then when we demand government officials tax the richest 1% with a wealth tax, or tax the super profits of fossil fuel firms to raise revenue for climate investment, they say no. They do not even want to ban private jets or single-use plastic – the lowest of low hanging fruits. This begs the question: who do they really work for – us, or the rich and the private sector?

Amongst many climate activists, there goes a saying: 

“If the environment was a bank, it would have been saved by now”. 

It was popularised by Bernie Sanders, the Democratic nominee for US President in 2016 and 2020, during his campaigns. During the 2008 global financial crash, government deregulation and reckless financial dealings by major investment banks caused a crisis requiring government intervention. The US and European governments raised trillions of dollars to keep the banks going, pumping their balance sheets with cash, which ensured the markets kept running.

Governments told the public the bailout was a debt which must be paid for by cuts to public services. Since 2010, researchers have found austerity contributed to the deaths of over 300,000 people. Unsurprisingly, the State and the private sector have said that both the financial crash and austerity were unavoidable.

I should know, because I worked for the London Stock Exchange between 1996 and 2010 and had a first-row view of the selfish, coked-up, hyper-masculine behavior which films like The Wolf of Wall Street depict. I also gained an understanding of the mutuality between the finance sector and government, and the formulation of ideologically-driven public policy.

Disrupt political and corporate power

There appears to be no budget constraints when governments want to bail out banks, or spend on war and military. There is always money for governments' wants. We must understand that their wants are not our needs. Government legislation and spending is predicated on ensuring the business and finance sector keep on winning and growth remains constant, despite us living on a planet with finite resources. 

Centrist and right governments could have financed a green revolution by now. We must show that true power in society lies with the citizens and how to unravel it.

He who owns the soil, owns everything above and below

We live in the era of hyper-commodisation, where the driver of wealth (and thus power) is the ownership of assets: land, natural resources, homes, hospitals, corporate shares, debts, schools, universities, think tanks, social media platforms, and traditional media outlets. The global 1% own 50% of all the world’s assets.

In just a couple of centuries, a small group of billionaires and corporations have come to figuratively and literally own much of the world's resources on a scale that makes gross domestic product look miniscule (take for example Blackrock’s investors: they own $9 trillion of assets in major firms and industries across the world, exceeding the GDP of all but two countries). Ownership of critical public resources and the means by which knowledge, culture, and political debate is created, communicated, and validated gives a privileged few power over public opinion and governance.

Simply raising business and wealth taxes will not ultimately change the nature of asset ownership, let alone the prevailing narrative that free markets are the optimal societal model. 

We must remember that relying on selling our labor for income is a relatively recent invention in human history, as people previously sustained themselves through farming and communal living. In just a couple of centuries, society has been convinced to accept this as normal.

I am not advocating a return to subsistence or bartering, but a post-capitalist society, where knowledge and opportunities are equal.

The marketplace for assets

The trading of the world’s major assets in commodity and financial markets are a core feature of the global financial system. Each day, around $16 trillion pass through it. This value is the actual capital transferred between buyers and sellers, not the hypothetical value of trades seen in derivatives markets.

Financial markets enable the pooling and growth of capital, primarily benefiting wealthier individuals and corporations. Although these profits arise from the labor used to produce goods and services, the distribution often favors investors and shareholders, thereby contributing to economic disparities, creating an endless cycle of concentrations of power.

The very design of this system ensures power remains with asset owners, leading to persistent inequality. This core feature is often absent in mainstream campaigns for economic, racial, and environmental justice, which don’t challenge the capitalist structure at its heart.

How we can win

I advocate for a little-known yet potentially transformational policy that targets asset ownership and the core power of business and finance, nationally and globally: a tax on financial transactions. This is more impactful than a wealth tax, focusing on how money and resources move worldwide. It’s a tax on power.

The policy campaign aims to support movements demanding global system change. Not only will a tax on financial transactions accelerate funding for climate solutions, it will pave the way for broader environmental, democratic, and social change, including reparative justice. Reparative justice means reckoning with enslavement and colonialism, the kidnapping and murder of hundreds of millions of people and cultures that is the basis of today’s wealth and power, which is concentrated in the West.

The tax would apply to trading of all commodity and financial assets such as corporate shares, bonds, global currencies, and resources like oil, gold, and food crops traded on open markets.

The majority of decision-makers, the largest investors, corporations, banks, governments, and high-net-worth individuals controlling world finance are based in Europe and the US. Two-thirds of the world’s trading – $16 trillion per day – takes place in London, New York, and Chicago, the world economy’s epicenter.

Just an initial 0.1% tax on these markets could raise $5 trillion annually in its first year of operation, potentially funding clean energy, poverty eradication, and universal access to essential services. As a reference, the UN’s 2030 Sustainable Development Goals (“SDGs”) are currently estimated to cost between $5-$6 trillion per annum and this year’s COP has been aiming to mobilize $1 trillion per annum in climate finance. 

Increasing this rate would further curb the power of business interests over governments, beginning to dismantle capitalist production and global private property.

Turning this into a movement

In conclusion, achieving climate justice requires not only challenging current economic structures but actively engaging citizens. We realize that responding to climate change demands a new approach, as the system causing the crisis cannot be its solution. 

The aim is to build solidarity with activists, campaigners, academics, and movements striving for system change. This policy campaign requires greater visibility and shaping by diverse groups, needing resources and support to scale globally. To actively contribute to this movement, consider sharing this article, engaging with local advocacy groups to support climate policy reform, and visiting Revolutionary Reparations.

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