Chancellor Rishi Sunak is advised to use the budget to reform the financial system to help protect the environment.
One organization aims to introduce a carbon tax and use the proceeds to shield the vulnerable from high energy bills.
The second petition calls for the Bank of England regulations to allow banks not to invest in fossil fuels.
In any case, Chancellor Rishi Sunak is expected to update the Bank’s mandate to include a greater focus on climate.
But activists want the new wording to stop the Bank from funding fossil fuel companies through schemes such as its £20 billion corporate bond acquisition program, which includes the purchase of debt issued by firms such as Shell and BP.
The Bank replied to similar calls in January by saying that it has a “ambitious climate change work program, ranging from stress testing of the UK’s largest banks and insurers against climate-related financial threats to collaborating globally with the Central Bank’s Greening Financial System Network.”
Some activists also want the Bank to partner with the Treasury to finance the National Infrastructure Bank to invest in sustainable industries.
The petition comes from Positive Money, a non-profit organization that claims 65,000 supporters, founded in the aftermath of the financial crisis and supported by trusts and foundations.
One activist, Hannah Dewhirst, said, “The Bank and the financial system it controls are actually financing devastating climate shocks, which will again see ordinary citizens paying the price of the cowardice of the bankers.”
Anna Vickerstaff, another climate activist at 350.org, said: “British banks are the worst in Europe to finance fossil fuels.
“Banks working in the United Kingdom are fuelling the climate crisis by funding fossil fuel ventures from Argentina to Mozambique.”
The petition comes after Members of the cross-party Environmental Audit Committee (EAC) last week called on the Government to add climate and nature objectives to the mandate of the Bank.
They advised Chancellor Rishi Sunak to impose reductions in VAT in order to improve energy conservation, the use of recycled materials and repair services.
The EAC also urged the government to begin work on a carbon tax foundation. That call was backed by a green group, the Zero Carbon Movement, on Wednesday.
The United Kingdom currently has a range of taxes that impact carbon emissions, including the Air Passenger Duty, the landfill tax and the vehicle tax.
The campaign calls on the Chancellor to simplify the “inconsistent” pricing mechanism by costing per ton of CO2 produced in the United Kingdom. Proceeds should be used to protect the poorest from tax increases, he said.
The group hopes that this will cause a transition to a sustainable economy by ensuring that individuals, companies, manufacturers and policy makers select less polluting alternatives.
The Treasury has discussed the relationship between tax and the atmosphere, including the carbon tax. It also looked at the pay-as-you-drive system for motorists to compensate for the loss of cash from fuel taxes on electric vehicles.
Recent media reports indicate that officials could step away from the plan for a carbon tax.
The Treasury would not address tax reforms until the Budget, although the Bank of England refused to comment.
Source: BBC.com
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About Skyhigh.Vip
Skyhigh.Vip is a global institutional investor with vast interest in Arts / Construction / Education / Business Services / E-Sports and various other growth industries.
Several of its popular portfolio includes GO Chambers which is the world’s largest business chamber listing providers with over 30,000 active chambers as its members.
Flexgigzz is the Asia leading marketplace for freelancer service and together with SOHO Learning Hub which is an online platform for short courses and both of them aims to be the number one provider in Asia. For growth industries such as E-Sport Authority which is dedicated to providing independent media coverage to all E-Sport News related from around the world and for the art world, there is Atelier Auction which is an investable art auctioneer and being in the art scene for decades.
