LeipzigReparations for the climate catastrophe caused by the Global North and debt relief for countries of the Global South – that is what the [organization/group] demands. Konzeptwerk Neue Ökonomie in his new dossier “Climate Debt & Reparations”.
Countries like Germany have profited from the use of fossil fuels for centuries, thus accumulating an immense climate debt. Climate reparations aim to reverse this injustice by addressing the root causes of the climate crisis and repaying this climate debt.
“The Global North owes the Global South historical, climatic, and ecological debts. Because it has colonized and enslaved a large part of the planet, because it is the largest emitter of greenhouse gases, and because it has plundered resources and destroyed the environment. These debts must be acknowledged and are on a much higher level than purely financial debts,” says Oumarou Mfochive, author of the dossier.
The problems of national debt and climate change are closely linked. Many formerly colonized countries are confronted with immense debt burdens and are also severely affected by climate disasters such as droughts and floods.
“The foreign debt of many countries in the Global South is illegitimate. It was incurred at the urging of institutions like the World Bank to extract natural resources for export – export into a global trading system that enforces an unequal exchange to the detriment of the world's poor. The debt must be cancelled!” said Oumarou Mfochive.
This publication is part of the project “Building Blocks for Climate Justice”, which continuously publishes policy proposals for a socio-ecological transformation.