The Jubilee Blog

COP28 Climate Summit Negotiations Focus on Commitments for Developing Countries to Adapt and Solve Climate Crisis

Most Developing Countries Spend More on Debt Service than on Addressing Country Climate Crisis Challenges

Dubai prepares to host nearly 170 prime ministers and presidents as part of COP28, this year’s United Nations conference to reach agreements on measures to stop climate change. High on the agenda are negotiations on climate aid for developing countries to address growing challenges from the climate crisis including greater natural disasters, rising sea levels and forest destruction.

"Wealthy countries pledged to provide some resources for developing countries to address the growing climate crises that are impacting their people," said Eric LeCompte, Executive Director of the religious development group Jubilee USA Network. "The commitments weren't enough and what was committed hasn't materialized. The climate summit needs to find out where the money is coming from and how to increase resources to address the climate crisis."

Delegates seek to finalize details on a fund to compensate developing countries for climate-related damage that last year’s climate conference agreed on. A 24-country committee tasked with developing details on contributions and operational aspects of the fund, released its proposal earlier this month.

“The Dubai negotiations need to finalize the funding and structure of the loss and damage climate fund so vulnerable countries get some relief soon,” added LeCompte. "Ninety percent of developing countries pay more on debt service than on climate spending. Debt relief and new sources of aid will need to be on the table if we are to raise the resources we need."

A range of governments, experts and civil society organizations are pushing climate summit negotiators to agree on a number of ways for countries to raise resources, including debt relief. Proposals and decisions include addressing which countries need debt relief, climate clauses in debt contracts, controlling interest rates and cheap loans.

According to the OECD, the pledge wealthy countries made in 2009 to transfer $100 billion in annual climate finance to developing countries, remains unfulfilled. The Dubai gathering assesses progress as well as to continue negotiations towards a new climate goal starting in 2025.

“With what we know about climate today and the impacts on our health and planet, the new climate finance goal should be much larger than 2009,” shared LeCompte. "In addition to the climate crisis, countries are wrestling with food and fuel crises, poverty, poor economic growth and shocks from the pandemic."

G20 leaders meeting in New Delhi in September agreed that $100 billion a year is the floor for any new climate finance commitments.

“During the summit, it will be crucial to watch the G20 and the IMF as they are key for setting climate goals and moving forward the resources we need,” said LeCompte.

Leaders of Largest US and Puerto Rico Churches Urge Congress to Pass Same Level of Food and Child Poverty Aid that US States Receive

Puerto Rico should receive the same nutrition assistance benefits, popularly known as food stamps, as US states receive, noted 28 major religious leaders from Puerto Rico and the United States. In a letter to Congress, the leaders of the largest US and Puerto Rico Christian faiths asked that Puerto Rico be included in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. Unlike states, the island is under a block capped grant system, periodically renewed, that cannot expand based on need like US states.

“In spite of the recent debt reduction deal, due to the fiscal conditions accompanying it and amidst rising inflation, more families and children depend on food aid,” the religious leaders said in the letter.

The leaders of Puerto Rico churches signing the letter represent the Catholic, Methodist, Lutheran, Christian (Disciples) and Evangelical, Presbyterian, Baptist Churches and the Puerto Rico Council of Churches. The Caribbean Institute of Ecumenical Action and Formation, Catholic Charities (Caritas) and the General Bible Society also signed. At the national level, religious leadership of the US Catholic Conference of Bishops, Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, Presbyterian Church USA, United Church of Christ, United Methodist Church, the National Council of Churches, the National Latino Evangelical Coalition and Jubilee USA Network endorsed the letter.

“Poverty and joblessness remain rampant in Puerto Rico as the island struggles with economic crises and the recovery from natural disasters,” said Eric LeCompte, Executive Director of the religious development group Jubilee USA Network which organized and endorsed the letter. “The funds for food aid are insufficient.”

This year, Congress will pass a Farm Bill which can set in motion a transition for Puerto Rico, as a US territory, to join the US states’ nutrition benefits program.  

Read the US and Puerto Rico Religious Leaders' Letter to Congress here.

Jubilee USA Statement on IMF and World Bank Meetings and IMFC Press Briefing

On Sunday, the Annual International Monetary Fund and World Bank Meetings conclude. On Saturday, the International Monetary and Financial Committee (IMFC), the IMF policymaking body, met as part of the IMF and World Bank Meetings. The global economy, economic growth, debt, inflation, and expanding IMF resources to respond to multiple crises are in focus on the agenda.

Eric LeCompte, at the meetings in Marrakesh, is the Executive Director of the religious development group Jubilee USA Network and a United Nations finance expert who monitored IMF and World Bank meetings since 2010. LeCompte releases the following statement on the IMFC meeting and the IMF and World Bank Annual Meetings:

"The IMF forecasts the lowest growth in decades.

"In spite of signs of easing inflation, decisionmakers continue to push for raising interest rates in an attempt to stop inflation.

"The flawed policy of raising interest rates means that more developing countries face debt crisis and food and fuel are too expensive for all of us.

"The emerging analysis from the meetings is that in addition to the tragic loss of life that we see in Israel and Gaza, the conflict affects economic stability, global trade and the poor everywhere.

"The Sustainable Development Goals are becoming more difficult to reach given the global impacts of the pandemic, conflicts, inflation and the climate crisis.

"Developing countries spend twice and a half their health budget, and almost four times their education budget on repaying debt.

"More than half of all countries are having trouble paying their debts and meeting the basic needs of their people.

"A report on the work of the Global Sovereign Debt Roundtable shows little progress in fixing the challenges that face debt restructuring and relief.

"Zambia, which applied for a debt restructuring 32 months ago, will leave the Annual Meetings with a formalized debt relief deal with public creditors.

"The meetings agreed on more options for wealthy countries to use their emergency pandemic relief or Special Drawing Rights to help increase the ability of development banks to provide aid and lend.

"It's great news that some countries are increasing contributions for the IMF to increase low-interest lending to poor countries.

"Unfortunately, IMF surcharges on large emergency loans add to debt burdens when countries are already in crisis.

"We expect decisions on increasing IMF resources to fight crises by the end of the year. The voting reforms that are connected with this seem to be stalled."

Read Jubilee USA's press release on the G20 Finance Ministers meeting here.

Read Jubilee USA's statement on the Development Committee Meeting here.

Read Jubilee USA's press release on the Africa Catholic Bishops Annual Meetings statement here. 

Read Jubilee USA's press release on the IMF World Economic Outlook report and the Global Financial Stability report here. 

Read Jubilee USA's statement on the IMF Global Financial Stability report here. 

Read Jubilee USA's statement on the IMF World Economic Outlook report here. 

Read Jubilee USA's press release on Annual Meetings agenda here.

Read Jubilee USA's press release on IMF chief Kristalina Georgieva's curtain raiser speech here. 

Morocco G20 Finance Meetings Make Few Decisions on Crisis Response

Consensus Document Dodges Israel/Gaza Conflict and Impacts

G20 finance ministers met on global economic growth, debt, inflation, expanding development bank aid, the pandemic and other crises. Meeting in Morocco during the Annual IMF and World Bank Meetings, the ministers reached agreement on a communique, which these ministers had failed to do since the beginning of the Ukraine war in February 2022. 

“The ministers met as a gap grows between the poor and the wealthy and as some countries see modest growth and poor countries are worse off,” said Eric LeCompte, Executive Director of the religious development group Jubilee USA Network. “The G20 made important commitments to boost the lending and aid capacity of the World Bank and other development banks to support developing countries.”  

Officials welcomed an experts group report they commissioned earlier this year to examine the additional capacity multilateral development banks need. The group's chairs are former US Secretary of Treasury Larry Summers and former chairperson of the Fifteenth Finance Commission of India Nand Kishore Singh. It estimates development banks together should ramp up finance and aid by $260 billion annually, as part of an annual $1 trillion external flows to finance climate and development in emerging and developing economies.

"The G20 needs to increase the resources for development banks so countries can emerge from crises and reach their development and climate goals," noted LeCompte. "What they agreed on only increases annual development bank funding by one-twentieth of what experts say is needed."

Inflation is easing in several countries but risks remain and core inflation is persistent, the G20 said.  

“We need to stop raising interest rates. This flawed policy, to stop inflation, hurts all of us," shared LeCompte. "Raising interest rates spurs more debt crises in developing countries and makes food and fuel too expensive for us."

While the World Bank called for the Israel and Gaza conflict to deescalate, the document makes no mention of the events or its impacts on global economic activity.

“It appears the cost of reaching consensus language was to dodge the Israel and Gaza question altogether,” said LeCompte. “Beyond the tragic loss of life, global financial stability and the poor around the world will be dramatically affected."

Read Jubilee USA's statement on the Development Committee Communique here.

Read Jubilee USA's press release on the Africa Catholic Bishops Annual Meetings statement here. 

Read Jubilee USA's press release on the IMF World Economic Outlook report and the Global Financial Stability report here. 

Read Jubilee USA's statement on the IMF Global Financial Stability report here. 

Read Jubilee USA's statement on the IMF World Economic Outlook report here. 

Read Jubilee USA's press release on Annual Meetings agenda here.

Read Jubilee USA's press release on IMF chief Kristalina Georgieva's curtain raiser speech here. 

Jubilee USA Statement on IMF and World Bank Meetings and Development Committee Meeting

The IMF and World Bank's Development Committee, a major policymaking body for the institutions, met in Marrakesh in the context of the IMF and World Bank Annual meetings. The Development Committee and the IMF and World Bank meetings focused on growth, debt, inflation, expanding development bank finance and aid, responses to the pandemic and the climate and food crises.

Eric LeCompte, Executive Director of the religious development group Jubilee USA Network and a United Nations finance expert who has monitored IMF meetings since 2010, releases the following statement on the World Bank and IMF Meetings and the Development Committee meeting:

“As poor growth is forecasted for the global economy it will be very difficult for developing countries to recover from the pandemic and food crises.

“The Bank’s listing of eight global challenges is helpful because they all deal with aspects of poverty.

“It's important that the World Bank wishes to tackle more global challenges, but we have no idea where the money is coming from to tackle these global problems.

“We need to do a better job at responding to the climate, food and inflation crises in the poorest countries. Unless we deal with their high debts, we won't have the resources to address these crises.

“Some good news on getting new resources is that there is growing momentum to increase resources for development banks.

“If wealthy countries donate Special Drawing Rights to development banks, we can put more resources where it is most needed.

“Development banks can help address debt crises by making sure debt contracts have clauses where debt payments stop in the face of disasters and by promoting debt swaps, transparency and accountability.

"We can only stop the debt and food crises by stopping these ridiculous policies of raising interest rates."

Read Jubilee USA's press release on the Africa Catholic Bishops Annual Meetings statement here. 

Read Jubilee USA's press release on the IMF World Economic Outlook report and the Global Financial Stability report here. 

Read Jubilee USA's statement on the IMF Global Financial Stability report here. 

Read Jubilee USA's statement on the IMF World Economic Outlook report here. 

Read Jubilee USA's press release on Annual Meetings agenda here.

Read Jubilee USA's press release on IMF chief Kristalina Georgieva's curtain raiser speech here.