How are climate and debt interconnected? Which countries are the most affected by climate change and debt distress? What do we mean when we talk about climate finance? Why do governments in the global north need to provide climate finance to the global south? What's wrong with climate in relation to the debt crisis? What is the impact of climate change and debt on gender equality and women's rights? What can governments and international institutions do to tackle the interlinkages between debt and climate crises? How can I get involved? How can I monitor the debt and climate finance situations worldwide?

How can I get involved?

There are some open spaces where activists and civil society  can participate. This includes getting involved in fighting the debt and climate crisis together, and keeping updated on news and actions about debt and climate related issues:

The campaign for Debt Justice and Climate Justice will take place in October and November 2021. You can join our campaign actions and participate in the preparations. Write a message to icrotti[at]eurodad.org to know more about it and to debtgwa[at]gmail.org to be included in the mailing list. You can keep informed on the campaign on the debtGWA website and by following @debtgwa on Twitter.

To learn and explain the interplay between debt and climate from a young age, Erlassjahr.de produced educational material on the complex topic of sovereign debt and climate change, targeted at students in secondary education (age 16 to 19). The activities complement the brochure “Debt crises affect people”.

If you are interested in finding out more about economic justice and development finance topics, including debt justice and climate finance, you can subscribe to Eurodad’s bi-weekly newsletter and receive the latest analysis and research from Eurodad, Eurodad members and allies.

You can also follow the CSOs and social movements events around the many advocacy opportunities in the following months and where governments and international institutions will discuss and decide on debt and climate policy:

Date Event Description 
3-7 October UNCTAD XV The UN agency that deals with Trade and Development has a key conference to approve its workplan every four years. In 2021 it holds its 15th conference, which includes a Civil Society Forum
11-17 October Annual Meetings Twice a year, the IMF and the WBG have their Annual and Spring meetings and host one week of discussion and events on global economic issues. The annual meetings are the main decision-making moment, with the IMF & World Bank Board of Governors. CSOs take part in the spring and annual meetings through the Civil Society Policy Forum (CSPF), where they can convene side events. This year’s annual meetings will have a lot of emphasis on the climate crisis. There will also be discussions on how to increase funding for developing countries, debt relief and debt  restructuring. Check out the Eurodad toolkits for advocacy to learn more about the IMF and the World Bank.
19-20 October Finance in Common summit The first Finance in Common Summit (FiC) took place in 2020 and brought together 450 Public Development Banks (PDBs). The  summit aimed to align PDB activities with the objectives of the Paris Agreement and advance commitments towards delivering global public goods, including universal healthcare. According to CSOs’ analysis, the summit failed to contribute concrete actions in key areas that would make a substantial contribution to ‘build forward better’ for people and the planet. A second edition of the FiC summit is scheduled for October.
30-31 October G20 summit G20 countries hold several meetings throughout the year, including finance minister’s or climate/environment ministers meetings. End of October will be the time for the heads of state of the G20 countries to meet in Rome for the G20 Leaders Summit. In 2020, the G20 took the lead in proposing (very limited) responses to the debt crises, including the Debt Service Suspension Initiative (DSSI) and the Common Framework for debt treatment. This year’s summit can be a moment to take stock of the  implementation, impacts and shortcomings of these initiatives and call for genuine debt cancellation.
31 October- 12 November UNFCCC COP26 COP26 is the next annual UN climate change conference. COP stands for Conference of the Parties, and the summit will be attended by the countries that signed the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). COP26, which will take place in Glasgow, is set to be the moment (delayed by a year due to the pandemic) when countries update their plans for reducing emissions. Climate finance, including loss and damage, and other issues will also be discussed at the COP. CSOs participate both as observers in the negotiations and they organise side events within the COP official spaces, as well as staging multiple actions around the COP.

Besides the above institutional advocacy opportunities, civil society and social movements organise multiple actions around debt and climate. Some of the dates to be taken into account for mobilisation are:

15 October | Thomas Sankara Day | Global days of action for justice and debt cancellation

15th October marks the assassination of Thomas Sankara in 1987, Burkina Fasso’s president that called for repudiation of external debt. Around this date is when the debt movement chooses to organise the global days of action for justice and debt cancellation, which this year will take place between 15th – 30th October and will also be focusing on debt and climate justice, among other debt justice issues.

22 October | Global Climate Strike | Fridays for Future

Details on this second global debt strike are still to be released. Within the Global days of action for debt cancellation CSOs are calling for a social media storm on October 22nd under the slogan “No climate justice without debt justice”.

5-6 November | Global days of action

The COP26 Coalition (that brings together UK CSOs) is calling for days of action during the celebration of the COP26, to happen both in Glasgow and in a decentralised manner around the UK and the World.

7-9 November | People's summit

A Global Gathering for Climate Justice that will bring together the international climate movement for an inspiring four-day alternative summit outside the official COP space in Glasgow and virtually.