Climate group calls for urgent windfall tax on excess fossil fuel profits, as delegates tell Colombia conference their nations are suffering
The Middle East oil and gas crunch will impose as much as a trillion dollars of additional costs on the global economy while petroleum companies rake in spectacular profits from elevated fuel prices, analysis has revealed.
The uneven distribution of risk and reward comes amid rising concern that the US-Israeli attack on Iran is worsening inequality, poverty and hunger across a world that has become dangerously dependent on fossil fuels.
Even if the strait of Hormuz swiftly returns to normal operations, the burden of elevated oil and gas prices will reach about $600bn, according to recent International Monetary Fund figures analysed by the climate campaign organisation 350.org. Should the supply disruption continue, the economic hit to households, businesses and governments could surge above $1tn, it said.
This is likely to be an underestimate because it does not include the substantial knock-on effects of inflation, particularly higher fertiliser and food costs, lower economic activity and rising employment.
