Sustainability For All and Not Just Some

The increasing economic inequality and bizarre wealth gap has reached serious ramifications for governance, both in terms of fairness and social equity as well as combatting the climate crisis. Canada’s 100 highest-paid CEOs took home $13.2 million, on average, in 2023. On average, these 100 CEOs were paid 210 times more than the average worker’s wage in 2023 (CCPA, 2025). It is clear that trickle down economics has failed miserably, most notably the poor.

We will not have a more sustainable world with such wealth disparity, but more importantly, it is resulting in a rise of populism around the world. We urgently need a global agreement to increase taxes on the richest 1% - not just on billionaires. A tax of up to 5% on the world’s multi-millionaires and billionaires could raise $1.7 trillion every single year, enough to lift 2 billion people out of poverty (Earth4All, 2025). 

Even the rich are now arguing for a fairer distribution as a group of over 100 millionaires and billionaires from nine countries published this open letter to government and business leaders, calling for permanent annual wealth taxes on the very richest to help reduce extreme inequality and raise revenues for critical public services.

It is time for a different kind of economy based upon fair and just redistribution of wealth that contributes to restoring people’s trust in governments and their institutions.