Fossil fuel firms may have to pay for climate damage under proposed UN tax

A street destroyed by Hurricane Melissa in Black River, Jamaica, in October 2025. The main delegate for Jamaica at the negotiations for proposed UN tax, said: ‘Hurricane Melissa wiped the equivalent of 40% of our GDP overnight.’ Photograph: Orlando Barría/EPA

Fossil fuel companies could be forced to pay some of the price of their damage to the climate, and the ultra-rich subjected to a global wealth tax, if new tax rules are agreed under the UN.

Negotiations on a planned global tax treaty will resume at the UN headquarters in New York on Monday, with dozens of countries supporting stronger rules that would make polluters pay for the impact of their activities.