Global Week of Action for Climate Finance and a Fossil Free Future!

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Phase Out, Pay Up, Justice Now! 

The world has no more time for any further delays to the phase-out of fossil fuels and failures of the Global North in delivering their climate finance obligations to the Global South.

From September 13 to 20, millions of people from villages, towns and cities worldwide will go to the streets and online to demand justice and a healthier, happier future for all. 

Rapid, Equitable, and Just Phase-Out 

The rapid increase in the use of fossil fuels since the start of industrialization has been the primary cause of excessive greenhouse gas emissions and consequently climate change. The Climate Convention, a legally binding international agreement adopted in 1992, requires nations to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to combat climate change. This means transitioning out of fossil fuels. To be compliant with the goal of the 2015 Paris Agreement, the transition must be done at a pace and scale required to keep global temperature rise below 1.5 degrees Celsius and prevent climate catastrophe..

Many Global North countries are going in the opposite direction, continuing to pursue fossil fuel expansion. It is also happening in the Global South, bankrolled by public and private financiers in the Global North. Meanwhile the climate crisis is swiftly intensifying, with increasingly devastating effects on people’s safety, homes, health, jobs and livelihoods, on food and water systems, on land and oceans.  

The phase-out of fossil fuels must not only be rapid, it must be equitable and just. With under 25% of the world’s population, the Global North is responsible for over 75% of global accumulated emissions since the start of industrialization. Their fair share of the phase-out includes domestic actions to reach zero emissions and covering a considerable part of phase-out costs in the South. The phase-out should include providing alternative decent jobs, livelihoods, and homes for workers and communities who will be dislocated and ensuring the protection of human rights. It should not involve gender, race, and other forms of discrimination. It should include economic diversification, ecological restoration, and addressing inequalities across and within countries.  

Delivery of Climate Finance Obligations and Reparations for Climate Debt

Global North governments, elites, and corporations owe the Global South a huge climate debt. Their greenhouse gas emissions far exceed their fair share of the earth’s carrying capacity and are primarily responsible for the climate crisis. Their extractivist economies are destroying natural carbon sinks. Furthermore, their economic policies and military operations render people of the Global South even more vulnerable to the impacts of climate change.

Part of reparations for this climate debt is the delivery of climate finance to the Global South, an obligation agreed in the Climate Convention. Global North governments have yet to deliver on these obligations at the required scale based on needs. Climate Finance must cover adaptation, loss and damage, mitigation and the phase-out of fossil fuels, and a just transition. It must be adequate, public and non-debt creating.

We demand Global North governments pay US$5 trillion yearly as a downpayment for their climate debt, starting now. There is money available, and more money can be raised. 

Global North governments should shift public finance away from dirty fossil fuels into renewable energy accessible to all. They should end public subsidies for fossil fuels and false solutions. Tax systems should be reformed, so polluters and profiteers pay their dues. Governments spend vast amounts of funds on weapons and military operations that harm people, destroy the environment, and are a massive source of carbon emissions. These funds should be diverted towards programs for climate justice and our planet’s security.

Global South countries struggle with repaying huge public debts, most of which have been lender-driven and have not truly benefited people. In addition to delivering climate finance, Global North governments should cancel these debts to free up public funds in the South that are urgently needed for public services, climate action, and economic transformation.

Phase out and Pay Up

In the thirty years since the Climate Convention came into effect and in the past decade since the Paris Agreement, we have yet to see anything but failed promises and avoidance of responsibilities. As millions of people unite across our fragile world, we say it is time to Phase Out and Pay Up. The time for justice is now.