In Australia and across the Pacific, we’re facing the harsh realities of climate damage, from devastating bushfires and floods to rising food costs. But while ordinary families struggle, big coal, oil, and gas corporations make billions in profits, all while shifting their pollution costs onto us. This isn’t fair.
That’s why Greenpeace Australia Pacific, as part of the Make Big Polluters Pay Alliance, is demanding accountability. We’re calling on the Australian Government to implement a Climate Pollution Levy on fossil fuel extraction and to establish a Climate Compensation Fund to support climate-impacted communities and offer crucial cost-of-living relief. This plan is about fairness, and frankly, our survival.
© Greenpeace
The Solution: A Climate Pollution Levy and Compensation Fund
A Climate Pollution Levy
Greenpeace is calling for a levy to directly target fossil fuel extraction in Australia, aiming to raise $100 billion each year initially. This reflects the immense damage the industry causes to our homes and communities. Climate disasters are already costing Australia an average of $38 billion per year, which breaks down to about $3,800 per household. These costs could skyrocket to $94 billion by 2060.
A $90 per tonne of CO2e levy could generate over $100 billion by 2030, aligning with carbon pricing mechanisms already in place around the world, like the EU carbon price and the EU Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism.
How would a levy on big polluters help?
Revenue from this levy would go entirely into a Climate Compensation Fund that could be spent on:
- Climate Disaster Support: Providing much-needed help to communities hit by climate disasters, offering immediate aid, grants, temporary housing, rebuilding support, and counselling. It could also help fill critical insurance gaps and support a comprehensive National Adaptation Plan. While the federal Disaster Ready Fund provides $200 million per year, climate disasters in Australia currently cost an astounding $38 billion per year—clearly, more funds are desperately needed.
- Low-Income Household Support: Shielding vulnerable households from rising climate costs by helping them transition to clean energy, leading to long-term savings. For instance, retrofitting just the lowest 20 percent of households for energy efficiency could cost $16.5 billion.
- Just Transition for Workers: Supporting workers as we move towards a greener economy, helping industries transition to clean energy and providing vital support for the 49,000 workers in coal mining and 18,000 in oil and gas extraction.
- International Climate Finance: We know how vital it is for Australia to contribute its fair share to global climate efforts, and particularly to help our Pacific neighbours with loss and damage, adaptation and disaster recovery. Australia’s fair share is 4.81 percent of the global total. The global climate finance goal increased to US**$300 billion annually by 2035**, and Australia’s portion is estimated to be AUD $14 billion per year by 2035.
This concept isn’t new. Many countries already price climate pollution. Vermont, a US state, recently passed a “Climate Superfund Act” that makes big oil companies pay for climate damage. And Pacific nations, like Vanuatu, are leading the way by proposing a Climate Damages Tax on each tonne of extracted coal, oil, or gas.
Big Polluters Get a Free Pass
We need this levy in place because our economy is rigged in favour of Big Polluters. Fossil fuel giants are making huge profits while paying barely any tax and receiving billions in government handouts.
- Dodgy Accounting: Coal and gas companies use complex accounting tricks, like carrying forward losses indefinitely, to slash their tax bills. For example, US oil major Chevron paid only $30 on $9.1 billion income in 2021 and paid no tax for seven years before that. ExxonMobil also managed to pay no tax for nine years. Even more recently, ATO records show that companies like Peabody Energy and Adani Group paid no tax in 2022-23.
- Broken Tax Systems: The Petroleum Resource Rent Tax (PRRT) was set at a 40 percent rate but is riddled with loopholes. Shell, for instance, expects to pay no PRRT on its Gorgon gas project, a project expected to last over 40 years. It’s shocking that Australians pay four times more in HECS than gas companies pay in PRRT.
- Free Gas & Tiny Royalties: Over half of Australia’s exported gas is given away for free, meaning no federal or state royalties. This amounts to $149 billion in LNG exports without royalties. While total LNG exports were $265 billion, only $10.4 billion in royalties were collected from 2020-21 to 2023-24, a paltry 4 percent rate. To put this in perspective, Norway taxes CO2 at AU $115 per tonne, and Qatar earns six times more from its oil and gas. In a truly baffling comparison, nurses collectively paid $7 billion more in tax than oil and gas companies between 2013-14 and 2023-24.
The Real Cost Is Currently Borne by You
Climate disasters are already costing Australia an average of $38 billion per year, which breaks down to about $3,800 per household. These costs could skyrocket to $94 billion by 2060.
- Soaring Insurance: Insurance is becoming increasingly unaffordable. More than 340,000 Australian households lack home insurance, and another 530,000 are underinsured. In 2023, 12 percent of households faced insurance stress. A recent Climate Council analysis found that two million homes are currently at high climate risk, a number that could grow by 750,000 by 2050.
- Destroyed Livelihoods: The devastating 2022 floods in NSW and Queensland cost $5 billion in lost economic activity. Governments spent $7.45 billion on recovery efforts, and fruit and vegetable prices rose by 5.8 percent. The catastrophic 2019-20 Black Summer bushfires directly killed 34 people, with another 445 dying from smoke inhalation. Those fires destroyed 3500 homes and caused farmers to lose up to $5 billion, with a total economic impact exceeding $100 billion.
- Impacts on Young People: A recent survey revealed that 13 percent of young people were directly impacted by extreme weather events, affecting their housing, education, and overall wellbeing. The mental health impacts alone are a significant concern.
- Pacific Crisis: The Pacific region contributes only 0.03 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions, yet are incredibly vulnerable to climate impacts. Climate disaster impacts in the Pacific rose by 700 percent in the last decade, with costs increasing eight-fold to $7.3 billion. For example, Vanuatu’s 2023 cyclones and earthquakes cost a staggering 69 percent of its GDP. While Australia’s climate finance to the Pacific was $265.9 million, the region desperately needs around $2.2 billion annually.
Australians Demand Action
It’s clear that Australians want Big Polluters to pay their fair share. Polling confirms this strong public sentiment:
- 70 percent link extreme weather to climate change.
- 75 percent believe climate change is raising living costs, with this figure jumping to 83 percent for insurance and food prices.
- 70 percent want more government action on corporate climate pollution.
The Time for Action is NOW
We simply cannot wait. The costs of climate damage are hurting our communities right now. The Australian Government must stand with its people, not with the big polluters.
Join us. Demand that coal, oil, and gas corporations pay their fair share. This climate damage is their responsibility.
Sign the Polluters Pay Pact and help us make big polluters pay!
References:
Inquiry into insurers’ responses to 2022 major floods claims, ‘Chapter 2 – The 2022 Major Floods’, in Flood Failure to Future Fairness (Australian Government, 2024),
Global Survey Finds 8 out of 10 People Support Taxing Oil and Gas Corporations to Pay for Climate Damages’, Oxfam International, 19 June 2025,
Great Job Joe Rafalowicz & the Team @ Article – Greenpeace Australia Pacific Source link for sharing this story.
