Overwhelming majority puts the UN Tax Convention negotiations on track / COP29 reactions

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Another overwhelming majority puts the UN Tax Convention negotiations on track, but the EU abstains

On 27 November, a vote in the 2nd Committee of the UN General Assembly ended with an overwhelming majority in favor of approving the Terms of Reference for a UN Framework Convention on International Tax Cooperation. 125 UN Member States voted in favor and 9 voted against. Meanwhile, 46 Member States, including all of the European Union (EU) abstained. The negotiation process for the new convention is now set to begin in February 2025 and end in 2027.

Read the press release

Read the civil society statement to EU Member States ahead of the vote


COP29

Betrayal in Baku: developed countries fail people and planet

by Climate Action Network International

In COP29, justice was not served on any front. Two years of progress on Just Transition, where Parties were starting to shape a common vision, were trashed due to bad process, showing dismay for the millions of people concerned about their lives, jobs, livelihoods. 

Read more

COP29 delivers death sentence for millions amidst “stage managed” global north takedown of trust, collaboration, and protocol

by Global Campaign to Demand Climate Justice (DCJ)

COP29 has been less of a COP and more of a carefully manipulated cop-out by global north governments that have used the Baku climate talks to sideline the core principles of a party-driven process to finalise their decades-long Great Escape and to rip apart the UNFCCC and Paris Agreement, lighting fire to a just global response to the climate crisis.

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Drowning in debt: the climate finance failure of COP29

by Tess Woolfenden (Debt Justice UK)

This COP was supposed to be an opportunity for rich countries to finally stump up the bill for their climate debt – to provide adequate, public, grants-based climate finance of at least $1 trillion a year to Global South countries. But this did not happen.

Read the blog

COP29 feminist reflections

by MENAFem

While the need to scale up financial flows to address the climate crisis was emphasised during COP29, the summit starkly exposed the inequities of the global climate regime, particularly for women and marginalised communities in the global south.

Read a blog by Fiza Naz Qureshi (Climate Action Network International)

Read the analysis by Shereen Talaat (MENAFem)

COP29 final NCQG text: This text is not worth the paper it's written on

by ActionAid

Superficially the numbers may look bigger than the previous 100bn climate finance goal. But scratch the surface, and this is packed full of loans. In order to artificially bulk out the numbers with existing funding streams, it is trying to count everything, everywhere all at once, while also shifting the burden onto developing countries.

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COP29 deal is a “global Ponzi scheme”

by Oxfam

The terrible verdict from the Baku climate talks shows that rich countries view the global south as ultimately expendable, like pawns on a chessboard. The $300 billion so-called ‘deal’ that poorer countries have been bullied into accepting is unserious and dangerous —a soulless triumph for the rich, but a genuine disaster for our planet and communities who are being flooded, starved, and displaced today by climate breakdown.

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COP29: from hope to a blow

by CNCD-11.11.11.

At COP29, the sky is falling on the heads of the countries of the global south who are going home betrayed. This new agreement undermines the foundations of the Paris Agreement and allows rich countries to shirk their historical responsibilities without responding to the needs of the most vulnerable for the next ten years.

Read the press release (French)


News

Why do we need a Framework Convention on Sovereign Debt?

Ahead of the 2nd Preparatory Committee Session for the Fourth Financing for Development Conference (FfD4), to be held at the United Nations (UN) Headquarters from 3 to 6 December, Eurodad has released this paper, part of a broader movement of civil society organisations advocating for necessary reforms ahead of FfD4 in Seville, Spain in 2025. The paper addresses questions arising from the civil society proposal for a UN Framework Convention of Sovereign Debt (referred to as the 'debt convention').

Read the Q&A | Read the press release

Civil society feedback to draft World Bank Group's IDA21 Replenishment Report

On 14 November, the Bretton Woods Project, Eurodad, Oxfam International and Urgewald jointly submitted their inputs to the public consultation on the draft Report on the 21st replenishment of the World Bank Group's International Development Association (IDA21). The submission calls for an adequate replenishment of grant-based resources from wealthy countries and to ensure socio-economic transformation is a core ‘mission’ of IDA21.

Read the submission

Eurodad International Conference 2025's programme is out - Get your early bird ticket by 30 November

The programme of Eurodad International Conference "2025: A once in a decade opportunity to achieve economic justice" is out, including details of a capacity building session on the afternoon of 27 Monday. For those who haven't registered yet, early bird tickets are available until 30 November only. 

Read the programme and register to the conference


Reports

Guaranteeing the future? The role of guarantees in development and climate finance

by Farwa Sial (Eurodad) and C.P. Chandrasekhar

In recent years, the use of guarantees in development and climate finance has been increasing. Yet, what are the implications for aid budgets, socioeconomic development and the climate justice agenda? This report provides an overview of the current landscape - including a mapping of the providers of guarantees and analyses their opportunities and risks.

Read the report

The wheel of corporate fortune: how the EIB boosts profits in the name of competitiveness

by Counter Balance, Observatori del Deute en la Globalització (ODG), Observatoire des Multinationales and Gresea.

This report examines the social and environmental contributions, and the profits made by seven companies with the help of the European Investment Bank (EIB). It demonstrates that the political drive to support competitiveness through derisking risks wasting billions in public funds on supporting a defective approach when there is no time or money to waste. 

Read the report


Useful resources

Rewatch the webinar "The role of guarantees in Official Development Assistance and climate finance"

Panellists discussed the implications of counting guarantees as ODA and issues related to measuring financial and development additionality. At the same time, taking place right after COP29, the webinar was an opportunity to place this discussion in the broader trends of an increasing role of private finance in development and climate action. A presentation of the report "Guaranteeing the future? The role of guarantees in development and climate finance" (see Reports section above) was done by co-author Farwa Sial.

Rewatch the webinar (English and Spanish)

Loss and Damage at COP29: what was decided and what is next?

by The Loss and Damage Collaboration

This document details what happened in discussions on Loss and Damage relevant agenda items including the New Collective Quantified Goal on Climate Finance (NCQG) during COP29.

Read more

"Eyeing the debt" - a photo series on debt and human rights

by Jairo Alvarez and Juan Pablo Bohoslavsky

A collaborative project exploring the intersection between finance, art, and human rights, seeking to illustrate the deep social impact of debt. 

Read more (English) | Spanish version


Vacancies

Call for sub-grant proposals under the ‘Connecting the Dots’ EU DEAR project

Eurodad | Deadline: 10 December 

Assistant director of communications and outreach

Boston University 


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.