Sustainability and the need to lessen climate change amid the COVID-19 pandemic have become the global economic agenda.
After debating the issue for over eight years, the secretary-general of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), Mathias Cormann, welcomed a historic international agreement by G-7 finance ministers from the United States, Japan, the United Kingdom, Germany, France, Italy and Canada on key elements of global tax reform designed to address the tax challenges related to the digitalization and the globalization of the economy amid the world economy digitizing at a fast pace with the occurrence of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The agreement mandates that the largest multinational tech giants pay their fair share of tax in the countries in which they operate, at a global minimum rate of at least 15%. If the agreement is finalized, it could help build momentum for a wider deal being discussed in talks held in Paris among more than 139 countries as well as at the upcoming G-20 finance ministers meeting in Venice in July.
The G-7 nations also agreed to follow the U.K.’s lead and make climate reporting mandatory, and they agreed on measures to crack down on the proceeds of environmental crimes, to ensure markets play their part in the transition to net zero.