UK Government “complicit” in obstructing loss and damage to Global South following UN talks, says GJN

Date: 5 November 2023
Campaigns: Climate

Reacting to the outcome of the fifth meeting of the Transitional Committee (TC) of the Loss and Damage fund,

Izzie McIntosh, climate campaign manager at Global Justice Now said:

“Global South countries are right to voice their anger that the World Bank will now hold the purse strings to climate funding that is owed to them. Bullying by global north countries – shamefully unopposed by our own government – means many of the most climate vulnerable countries are now excluded from support due to the World Bank’s ossified funding rules. And for those who do qualify, the World Bank as host means that even higher debt burdens loom if they want to access the funds they are owed.

“The lack of obligation for rich countries to pay into the fund and take the lead on providing funding in the form of grants – not loans – is appalling. Not only content with incentivising climate-wrecking polluters, the UK Government is now complicit in obstructing climate vulnerable countries from getting the money they are owed – weakening their ability to deal with climate catastrophe. The World Bank’s governance must be immediately reversed and replaced by an independent body under the guidance of the UN to oversee loss and damage funding.”