Six heads of state and government, two city and state leaders, and the heads of the World Bank Group, the International Monetary Fund and the OECD today agreed on an ambitious global target for putting a price on carbon pollution.

The leaders, who are all members of the Carbon Pricing Panel, convened by World Bank Group president Jim Yong Kim and IMF managing director Christine Lagarde, challenged the world to expand carbon pricing to cover 25 percent of global emissions by 2020, double the current level, and to achieve 50 percent coverage within the next decade.

The call, which comes on the eve of the signing ceremony in New York of the Paris COP21 Agreement, was made by the Prime Minister of Canada, Justin Trudeau; President of Chile Michelle Bachelet; Prime Minister of the Federal Republic of Ethiopia Hailemariam Dessalegn; President of France François Hollande; Chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany Angela Merkel; and President of Mexico Enrique Peña Nieto, together with Bank Group president Kim, Lagarde, California governor Edmund G. Brown Jr., Rio de Janeiro mayor Eduardo Paes and OECD secretary-general Angel Gurría.

“There is a growing sense of inevitability about putting a price on carbon pollution,” said World Bank Group President Jim Yong Kim. “In order to deliver on the promises of the historic Paris climate agreement, a price on carbon pollution will be essential to help cut emissions and drive investments into innovation and cleaner technologies. Prices for producing renewable energy are falling fast, and putting a price on carbon has the potential to make them even cheaper than fuels that pollute our planet,” he added.

The call to expand carbon pricing was supported by United Nations secretary-general Ban Ki-moon. "Carbon pricing is an invaluable tool for redirecting investments and transforming markets to build low-carbon, climate-resilient economies that will drive prosperity, strengthen security and improve the health and well-being of billions of people," he said.

In a joint vision statement released today, the leaders declared that carbon pricing needs to be implemented faster and further on a global scale to keep to the Paris COP21 commitment of holding the increase in the global average temperature to well below 2°C above pre-industrial levels, and drive efforts to keep the rise to no more than 1.5°C. 

“Carbon pricing is the most effective policy for reducing emissions, raises significant revenues, is administratively straightforward, and can have substantial domestic health benefits. It should be front and center as countries move forward on their mitigation pledges for the landmark Paris Agreement,” said Lagarde.

 The vision statement stresses that putting a price on carbon pollution is one of the most effective policies available for reducing emissions at scale while promoting green growth and creating green jobs. – TradeArabia News Service