Climate change

Why making rich polluters pay is key to climate justice

Jose Reyeros

30 Oct, 2026 / 1 min read time

Inspired by the power of communities to imagine a different future from South to North America, Jose works to challenge extractive systems and amplify the voices of those defending nature and their territories.

Through youth-led organising and storytelling, Jose connects local struggles in his native Mexico with global climate movements, while mobilising to protect marine ecosystems and resist fossil fuel expansion. He advocates for a just transition that centers Indigenous knowledge, community leadership and the need for those most responsible for the climate crisis to take accountability.

What inspired my climate activism?

To me, caring about the climate emergency takes an understanding of science, the courage to listen to communities, and the love we can have for nature.

My activism was sparked by the lack of a better imagination of the future. The youth movement seeded in me the agency to fight for and imagine a better system.

Today, I feel my inner fire continue to grow as I consistently learn how to resist from the frontlines of extractivism and get support from the people and organizations embodying the alternatives.

I am convinced that our coalition to fight against a world shaped by extractivism, oil and gas oligarchs will open pathways for life to regenerate, for ancestral intelligence to reclaim its rightful importance in humanity, and for justice to move closer to our realities.

Why the richest polluters must pay

We must mobilize the political will and tax the richest 1% because climate finance will remain a band aid solution to a system that must change.

Making rich polluters pay is a roadmap to fund the just transitions needed to respond to the climate emergency. Clear science and public opinion show that climate justice must be served by redistributing our current resources in a way that allows our planet to regenerate and people to access wellbeing.

We cannot allow the wealthiest 1% to extract and pollute at this magnitude while the global majority and planetary health bear the damage at the same magnitude of inequality.

Make Rich Polluters Pay

Join us today to demand that governments fairly tax the biggest and richest polluters and use that money to fund climate solutions.

Sign the petition

Why climate justice matters in Latin America

I’m inspired to be part of this campaign because it is important to translate knowledge and connect the strategy of this campaign, especially in Latin America, because people in our region steward the heart and the lungs of the world, and the world must deliver climate justice for Abya Yala (the Americas).

About the author

Jose Reyeros is a climate activist from Mexico, working at the intersection of ocean protection, youth movements and climate justice.