Former world leaders seek $25bn levy on oil states’ revenues to pay for climate damage

Gordon Brown leads those signing letter to Cop28 and G20 presidents calling for levy to help fill loss and damage' fund

The bumper revenues of oil-producing states should be subject to a $25bn levy to help pay for the impact of climate disasters on the world's poorest and most vulnerable people, a group of former world leaders and leading economists has said.

Seventy international figures led by the former UK prime minister Gordon Brown signed a letter calling for the measure before a crucial UN climate summit, Cop28, that begins in Dubai on Thursday. The signatories include 25 former prime ministers or presidents.