---

A UN panel led by the prime ministers of Norway and Ethiopia has called for increased taxes on carbon emissions and air and sea transport in order to raise revenue for poor countries to combat climate change.

Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg of Norway and Meles Zenawi of Ethiopia said carbon emission taxes should be used as a deterrent to producing greenhouse gas emissions and raise money in the fight against global warming.

The politicians proposed that carbon dioxide emissions should cost between $20 and $25 per tonne. This, along with auctions of carbon emission allowances and new carbon taxes, could raise up to $30 billion per year, they said. According to experts, the bulk of carbon emissions currently cost between $10 and $20.

Stoltenberg commented that the International Maritime Organization (IMO) was already working on a system to tax the carbon emissions of shipping.

The UN group said it was looking to raise $10 billion a year from taxes on international transport, $10 billion by switching subsidies from fossil fuels, $10 billion from private capital flows linked to carbon trading and tens of billions of dollars from a tax on international financial institutions.

Commenting on the transport tax, Stoltenberg said "This is more realistic than many people believe. We need the political will to take the decisions and that is up to the governments."

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon called the proposals "financially feasible and politically viable".

The tax proposals will be examined at the upcoming United Nations Climate Change Conference due to be held in Cancun, Mexico on 29 November- 10 December 2010.