The climate crisis is wreaking havoc around the world, particularly in climate-vulnerable countries who have done the least to cause the crisis, and particularly amongst the most vulnerable populations and women within those countries. A massive increase in financing for global climate responses is urgently needed. Tax justice in both rich, high-polluting countries and climate-vulnerable countries must be central to finding a fair solution, alongside the introduction of new global taxes and changing how global tax rules are set and enforced.
For years, rich polluting countries failed to even reach the previous target of US$100 billion, and only reached it in 2022 through topping-up grants provided by additionally counting loans towards the target. Indeed, loans represented two-thirds of the climate finance that rich countries claimed to mobilize. This is pushing climate-vulnerable countries deeper into debt and even creating perverse incentives to scale up fossil fuel extraction in order to repay those loans.
Date published: June 2024
Number of pages: 22
This report uses British English.