A global coalition of civil society organisations from social movements, environmental and development NGOs, trade unions and faith groups on Friday, November 15, 2024, released a new report. Titled: “Fair Shares, Finance, Transformation – Fair Shares Assessment, Equitable Fossil Fuel Phase Out, and Public Finance for a Just Global Climate Stabilisation”, the report is said to be endorsed by well over 300 organisations from around the globe.
The 2024 edition marks the 10th year since the first Civil Society Equity Review of countries’ climate ambition was released in the lead up to the 2015 Paris Climate Summit.
The report detailed the profound damage caused by the global north’s unwillingness to do their fair share of climate effort, especially related to climate finance, and how that damage is further exacerbated by the organised obstructionism of the fossil fuel industry and the parasitism of the global rich.
It also detailed that there is plenty of money to fund a just, ambitious, effective and equitable global climate transition, even without implementing the deep systemic changes that are also needed. The report further details these systems change reforms, divided into more immediate reforms and the longer-term objectives, needed to actually allow the world to address growing inequities and stop the climate crisis.
The Report stated: “The Global North’s negotiators are refusing to engage with numbers of this scale, and by so doing are playing a very dangerous game. In this refusal, they imagine themselves realists, but they are in fact refusing to engage with numbers that have real empirical bases, and by so doing are endangering the UNFCCC regime and, indeed, the entire multilateral system, not to mention any remaining possibility of a stable climate and all that depends on it. True realism lies in the recognition that we actually have the money to save ourselves, and that the reallocation and redistribution of that money is now an existential necessity.”
Building on previous Civil Society Equity Reviews, the 2024 report includes:
- An updated look at NDCs for 2035, including key fossil fuel phaseout demands for the next round of NDCs,
- An examination of the danger of developed countries falling so far short of their fair shares, especially their unwillingness to engage with climate finance discussions on the needed scale of trillions not billions,
- Discussion that the money for climate finance is available and several areas for possible funding,
- The need for system change, with reforms divided between the short term and the long term, needed in order to fully transition away from the fossil fuel addicted and increasingly inequitable society we have today.
Lidy Nacpil of Asian Peoples’ Movement on Debt and Development said: “The delivery of adequate, additional, non-debt creating climate finance is absolutely vital, but it does not stop there. For countries in the global south to be able to meet the challenges of solving the climate crisis while building resilience and the strength for dealing with the impacts and losses, we need many immediate, major reforms in the international and national financial architecture. This is essential for the whole world to transition successfully to a zero carbon, equitable and just world.”
Tom Athanasiou of EcoEquity said: “This report takes a step back from the scrum and theater of the Baku COP, and asks us to look at the big picture. Even in the unlikely best case, Baku will only deliver a small step forward, and many others will be needed if we’re to stabilise the climate system in time. Obviously, we haven’t got a chance without geopolitical transformation, which has to begin with a finance breakthrough. As this report demonstrates, such a breakthrough is more than possible – despite everything, we have the money, science, and technology to save ourselves.”
Amiera Sawas, Head of Research and Policy, Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty Initiative, said: “A just and equitable transition away from fossil fuels is not only the direction set by the UNFCCC process and the Summit for the Future – but it’s also a moral responsibility. This is going to require systemic change – particularly of our global economic system which is putting up numerous barriers for countries across the global south.
“These countries not only need but also deserve trillions to make this transition. This report shows us that the gap in making this finance happen is not about the money. The money is there. It’s about the political will to make better choices and push back on the obstructive fossil fuel industry which is only interested in maintaining its own profits and existence at the expense of humanity.”
Kelly Stone, Senior Policy Analyst, ActionAid USA, said: “A fair shares approach is not only a moral imperative, but a practical requirement. The longer action is delayed, especially by rich, developed countries, the greater the challenge becomes to meet the targets in the Paris Agreement. The failure of these countries to do their fair share so far, especially the refusal to deliver sufficient levels of grant-based climate finance, has profoundly broken trust in this process and stalled badly needed progress.
“Everyone needs to do their fair share, but it’s the developed countries’ failure to do that is currently blocking action. The money is there, and there are clear actionable reforms that can be taken to help unlock climate finance, create fiscal space and begin the needed transformation for a more just, sustainable world. We cannot wait any longer. COP29 needs to deliver an ambitious, grant-based climate finance goal as a first step.”
Asad Rehman, Director, War on Want, said: “The hollow words and empty promises of rich developed countries to keep 1.5°C alive are a literal death sentence for the planet and many of its people. The super rich are guzzling their way through what little remains of the carbon budget and grabbing trillions of the world’s wealth, with the fossil fuel giants laughing all the way to the bank. Wealth taxes must fund a just transition that will guarantee everyone the right to live with dignity and in harmony with the planet.”
