G7: Climate finance must be about justice and reparations

As world leaders meet for the G7 Summit, ActionAid is calling on the world’s richest nations to meet their promise to deliver $100 billion a year* in climate finance through grants to help vulnerable countries adapt to the climate crisis and transition to greener economies without being pushed further into debt.

Teresa Anderson, ActionAid International’s climate policy coordinator, says:

“Rich countries are way off track for meeting the $100bn a year in finance pledged to support developing countries adapt to climate change and reduce their emissions. Most of what has been provided so far has been in the form of loans, which are pushing vulnerable countries further into debt and poverty as they try to recover from the Covid-19 crisis.

“The G7 must commit real finance through grants and stop turning a blind eye while the world’s poorest and most marginalised, including women and girls in the Global South, are hit hardest by devastating cyclones, floods and rising sea levels.”

Ends.

Although wealthy countries have pledged to deliver $100bn of climate finance a year to developing countries by 2020, this number is far lower than the real “fair share” that they should be contributing to have any chance of avoiding the worst impacts of the climate crisis. Many members of US civil society, supported by several US members of congress, have calculated that $800bn would be a down payment on the fair share of climate finance owed by the US.