On 8 December 2023, Diann Black-Layne (Ambassador for Climate Change of Antigua and Barbuda) and Benito Müller (Director OCP/ecbi) co-hosted a side event on Climate Solidarity Levies (CSLs) dedicated to the memory of Saleemul Huq, one of the co-authors of the CSL Manifesto, in the CARICOM Pavilion.

The event began with a presentation on CSLs by Professor Müller, which was followed by a panel discussion, moderated by Kishan Kumarsingh (Head of Delegation, Trinidad and Tobago, and Head of the ecbi Fellowship and Trust-building Programme), with the two co-hosts and Kevin Magron (Special Advisor on Climate Action, Ministry of European and Foreign Affairs, France) and Frode Neergaard (Chief Adviser at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Denmark).

Following a brief account of the genesis of CSLs, the introductory presentation ended with a call for member countries of the newly announced Taskforce on International Taxation to Scale Up Development, Climate and Nature Action (including Antigua and Barbuda and France) to become the leading group for a Climate Solidarity Alliance. They could do this by adopting domestic CSLs as innovative sources of funding for loss and damage (in particular through the new multilateral L&D Fund) as soon as possible and in parallel to Taskforce deliberations (for more on this, see COP28: Call for a Climate Solidarity Alliance).