Leaders’ Group Calls for Global Profit Tax on Climate Polluters

Wealthy countries must set an example for the world by enacting permanent windfall taxes on the industries fueling climate change, a group of veteran global and national leaders said in a public letter.

Developed economies need to impose new profit taxes on businesses that emit greenhouse gases amid fiscal pressures and opposition to other taxes, the Club of Madrid, a group that includes dozens of former presidents and prime ministers, said in the Tuesday letter addressed to “World Leaders.”

The taxes should be levied in a way that leans most on polluters with the greatest capacity to pay rather than ...