As the COP28 climate summit finally wound up this week, the news came that for the first time in its near thirty-year history, there was finally an agreement to transition away from fossil fuels. This long overdue step followed an earlier announcement that after years of incredible campaigning, a fund is finally being set up to pay for the loss and damage caused by the climate crisis.
These were two glimpses of hope in a summit which otherwise largely failed to deliver. In the words of Anne Rasmusssen, the lead negotiator for the Alliance of 39 Small Island States: “We have made an incremental advancement over business as usual when what we really needed is an exponential step change in our actions and support.”
Lower income countries are now spending twelve times more on debt repayments than addressing the impacts of the climate crisis, and fifty-four countries are in debt crisis. There has never been a greater need for debt cancellation for climate justice. This is why Debt Justice supporters joined activists from around the world in raising the alarm.
Ahead of the talks, we handed in a petition signed by thousands of supporters, tweeted messages at Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and even projected them up onto parliament! During the summit in Dubai, we joined allies to hold protests and events demanding debt cancellation for climate justice.
We did see some welcome announcements on debt during the summit – other nations joined the UK in agreeing to debt pauses for lower income countries following climate disasters, for example. However, these are a drop in the ocean compared to what’s needed. Agreements on grants so countries can adapt to and deal with the climate crisis are still hugely lacking and likely to push countries further into debt.
We know there’s a long way to go, but as we head into an election year we also know that we have a vital opportunity to put debt cancellation for climate justice onto the agenda. It’s an urgent message that we won’t let politicians ignore.
