The world’s money is flowing in the wrong direction. The climate crisis is really about money: too much money is fuelling climate change, too little money is going to climate solutions, and extractive money flows are locking economies deeper into climate-destructive spirals that deepen inequality.
New, ground-breaking ActionAid research examines the use of public funds in the Global South and finds that the same industries fuelling the climate crisis are draining public funds from Global South governments.
ActionAid’s new analysis of global data looks into patterns of public financing and finds that:
- Corporate capture of public finance means that each year, the climate-destructive fossil fuel and industrial agriculture sectors receive US $677 billion in subsidies in the Global South. This amount could pay for primary school education for all sub-Saharan African children more than 3.5 times over.
- Between 2016 (when the Paris Agreement was signed) and 2021 (the most recent year with available data), the industrial agriculture sector in the Global South received an annual average of US $238 billion in public subsidies, which increased to US $276.4 billion in 2021.
- Between 2016 and 2023, the fossil fuel sector received an even more shocking annual average of US$438.6 billion a year in publicly financed subsidies from Global South countries. Fossil fuel subsidies have steadily risen over this period, reaching US $495.3 billion in 2023.
- Climate finance grants from the Global North for climate-hit countries are still grossly insufficient to support climate action and the necessary transitions. Climate finance grants amount to just 1/20th of the Global South public finance for fossil fuels and industrial agriculture.
- The lack of real climate finance for solutions in the Global South means that renewable energy receives 40 times less public finance than the fossil fuel sector.
Authors: Teresa Anderson and Paula Castro
Data Analysts: Ward Warmerdam/Profundo
Designer: www.nickpurserdesign.com
With thanks to: Abdul Kalam Azad, Swaleh Kitasi, Agnes Schim Van Der Loeff, David Archer, Julie Middleton, Fabiana Ferreira Alves, Stephen Greenberg, Doug Herzler, Kevin Maenzanise, Jess Midwinter, Juliah Kibochi, Ana Alcalde, Tanzia Anjum, Cynthia Wechabe & Sfiso Dladla.
Date published: September 2024