Nairobi to Belém: Global South calls for climate and tax justice in back-to-back meetings
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Nairobi to Belém: Global South calls for climate and tax justice in back-to-back meetings
With the climate crisis accelerating and increasingly affecting the livelihoods of people in the Global South, the need for the Global North to repay the climate debt it owes is more urgent than ever.
With COP30 and the negotiations for a UN Tax Convention taking place at the same time over the past two weeks, it’s increasingly clear that an ambitious tax justice agenda has a huge potential to mobilise the financial resources urgently needed for climate action. The meetings in Nairobi ended on 19 November, and discussions at COP30 are in their final stages, with uncertain outcomes. The political will to deliver climate justice is put to the test in Belém, as it will be during the next round of the UN Tax Convention negotiations in 2026.
Despite the Global North’s claims that there is not enough public finance, a new report shows that more than a trillion dollars could have been raised for climate action since 2015 with a surtax on fossil fuel industries’ profits.
Read the report “Make polluters pay: Proposal for a surtax on fossil fuel industries’ profits” by Eurodad and the Global Alliance for Tax Justice (GATJ) - see more below
Read a blog on COP30 by Eurodad’s climate justice expert Bertha Argueta
Blogs
Reflections on the EU-CELAC Summit 2025: The EU must go beyond the Global Gateway if it truly cares
by Maria José Romero (Eurodad)
The IV EU-CELAC Summit, which resulted in a joint declaration, had some promising rhetorical outcomes. But civil society was also concerned as private finance - and the EU’s Global Gateway - took centre stage once more.
Reports
Make polluters pay: Proposal for a surtax on fossil fuel industries’ profits
by Eurodad and the Global Alliance for Tax Justice (GATJ)
Against the backdrop of rising inequalities and the accelerating climate and environmental crisis, this paper proposes additional taxes – or surtaxes – on the profits of the fossil fuel industry.
Read the report | Read the press release
The G20 at a crossroads: an independent assessment of the G20’s impact, and lessons for an equitable economic future
by New Economics Foundation, the Institute for Economic Justice, the Institute for Policy Studies, Transforma, and the Centre for Economic and Social Rights
This report assesses the record of the G20 across five policy domains and applying two lenses. First, it measures the G20’s delivery against its own stated aims of “strong, sustainable, balanced, and inclusive growth”. Second, it applies an economic justice framework, testing outcomes across distributive, procedural, recognition, restorative, capability, and environmental dimensions.
Behind the billions: tracking the missing pieces of MDB climate finance data
by Publish What You Fund
With the release of the 2024 Summary Joint Report in September 2025, Multilateral Development Banks have committed to preparing a new interactive platform to improve access to climate finance data, with progress expected at COP30 in Belém. If successful, this platform could address many concerns; if not, the recommendations in this report provide a timely guide for what stakeholders require from project-level climate finance disclosure. This report compiles all publicly available investment-level climate finance data from eleven MDBs into a single, centralised dataset covering 2021 to 2023.
Ecofeminist proposals for climate action – The case of Madagascar
by Observatori del Deute en la Globalització (ODG)
By studying Madagascar as a case example, this report unmasks debt swaps and carbon markets. Both policies are presented as climate solutions by the Malagasy and Spanish governments, a vision that is fully supported by international financial institutions such as the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund. However, these false solutions mainly benefit rich countries and corporations, and do not contribute to generating the systemic change essential to face the climate emergency.
Useful resources
Meet the world's loan sharks
by Catholic Agency for Overseas Development (CAFOD)
Nearly half of the world’s population live in countries that spend more on debt interest than on health, education, or climate change. Big banks and hedge funds lend to these countries at unfair rates and profit from the interest. These big financial institutions act like payday loan sharks. This TV advert was produced to show the public how unfair this is.
High-level dialogue on debt sustainability and development financing
by AFRODAD, Open Society Foundations, African Union Commission, UNDP and UNECA
As the African continent grapples with a growing debt burden, limited fiscal space, and heightened vulnerability to global shocks, there is an increasing recognition that conventional approaches that are rooted in external borrowing and narrow fiscal metrics are no longer adequate.
Webinar - Fossil fuel expansion in Latin America: Who is behind its financing?
by FARN Argentina
While the world needs to move toward a just and sustainable energy transition, financial flows to oil, gas, and coal projects keep increasing across Latin America. In this webinar panelists discussed who is driving this expansion, what impacts it has, and how to foster alternatives aligned with climate action and social justice.
The Women Gender Constituency has a new website
by WeDo
On the website, you'll find Women Gender Constituency’s COP30-related updates and collective priorities, Gender Just Climate Solutions, resources and trainings, and information about the member network. The site is currently available in English, French, Spanish, and Portuguese.
Jobs
Director • Wemos • Deadline: 30 November
Events
24 Nov | Mexico City | Feminist economics from the Global South: Dialogues between the macro and the local
We live in overlapping economic, social, and ecological crises that call for a renewed feminist analysis. From the deepening of austerity and debt dependence to the ongoing destruction of life through extractivism, today’s global economy is unsustainable. Organised by DAWN (Development Alternatives with Women for a New Era), the Secretariat for Women of Mexico City, and Equidad de Género, Ciudadanía, Trabajo y Familia, this dialogue seeks precisely to build bridges across the Global South, connecting international debates with local experiences that sustain life and propose new ways of organising the economy. Eurodad's Maria Jose Romero will be taking part in this event.
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This newsletter has been produced with co-funding from the European Union, Bread for the World and Norad. The contents of this publication are the sole responsibility of Eurodad and can under no circumstances be regarded as reflecting the position of the funders. |
