Debt cancellation and climate change
Primary sponsor
Bell Ribeiro-Addy
Motion Text
That this House recognises that countries in the global South are being forced to confront the climate emergency with both hands tied behind their back; notes that low-income countries are responsible for less than 1 per cent of the world's historic carbon emissions but now face some of the most devastating impacts of climate breakdown; further notes a recent analysis from the Jubilee Debt Campaign which found that 34 of the world’s poorest countries are spending £21.4 billion on debt payments a year compared with £3.9 billion on measures to tackle the climate emergency; notes a peer-reviewed study published by Springer which estimates that the cost of climate-related loss and damage in the global South alone will be between $290 billion and $580 billion annually by 2030; regrets that COP26 did not recognise, or take action to address, the link between global debt and the climate emergency; calls on the Government to push for an expansion of the G20 Common Framework to consider middle-income, climate-vulnerable countries for debt relief treatment and ensure private sector participation; and further calls on the Government to support calls for automatic debt payment suspension and relief for countries that experience natural disasters.