Reaching the white sand atolls of the Maldives might soon cost tourists a little more, but leaders hope it will eventually save their islands from climate change-induced sea level rise. The new goal—but not the proposed tourist tax—marks a change in the Maldives’ previous plan to save up enough money to desert their sinking atoll. Now, the nation is aiming to go carbon neutral instead.

President Mohammed Nasheed announced Tuesday that the Maldives were in the process of approving a tourist tax that would help fund an ambitious effort to be the first carbon neutral nation by 2020, according to a Reuters report.

“We have introduced a green tax,” he is quoted as saying. “It's in the pipeline. It's a matter of parliament approving it and I hope parliament will approve it—$3 per each tourist a day."

Less than a year ago, Nasheed said he was looking for ways to leverage the tiny nation’s $1 billion a year tourism industry to buy a new homeland. But in March, the Maldives announced a new plan to go carbon neutral, according to an article in the British newspaper, The Observer. The new plan would include a renewable electricity system with 155 wind turbines, solar panels, and a biomass plant fed on coconut husks. Even gasoline-powered automobiles would eventually be phased out in favor of electric.

The eco-friendly facelift is estimated to cost the Maldives about $110 million each year for the next 10 years, according to the Observer. By comparison, the new tax is expected to bring in about $6.3 million a year, Reuters stated. Meanwhile, the Maldives are in such dire financial straits, Nasheed can’t afford to attend climate talks in Copenhagen in December and the nation is seeking an International Monetary Fund loan for $60 million to address an unrelated shortfall.