Climate justice for small island developing states: identifying appropriate international financing mechanisms for loss and damage

Figures & data

Table 1. Summary of findings.

FINANCIAL MECHANISM	CRITERIA
	Fairness	Dependability	Feasibility	Suitability
Airline travel levy	To some extent: the levy collected could potentially move downstream to traveller destinations, including SIDS	To some extent: air travel demand is growing annually	Yes: similar schemes have been successfully implemented on an international scale	Yes: could help meet other development needs in SIDS (e.g. poverty reduction and healthcare)
Fossil fuel extraction levy	To some extent: developed countries have historically extracted the most fossil fuels but, if applied across the board, SIDS that were not major historical emitters would also be required to pay	To some extent: in the short term, it can provide financing; in the long term, revenues are likely to decrease as fossil fuel use is disincentivized	Yes: The levy will be placed on fossil fuel extractors, which are easy to identify	Yes: the proposal was made with L&D in mind
GHG emissions levy	No: has been previously implemented but countries and corporations might refuse to comply with the terms	To some extent: in the short term, it can provide financing; in the long term, another financing mechanism will be needed	To some extent: future strategy for implementing tax rates and use of generated revenues will be needed	To some extent: most SIDS are low GHG emitters
Bunker fuel usage levy	No: SIDS may be locked out of participation in maritime trade due to increasing costs	Yes: shipping is necessary for importing and exporting goods, including for remote SIDS	No: creating a system will be time-consuming; collection will be difficult and complicated	No: high dependency on imports and exports will increase the burden on SIDS
Financial transaction levy/tax (FTT)	No: revenue raised will eventually hurt end-users	To some extent: collection will be complicated and will likely cause disruptions in the market	To some extent: previously used in individual countries	No: conceptually disconnected from L&D and creates instability in the global market

(Source: Authors).