DCJ PRESS RELEASE:
BAKU, AZERBAIJAN, 19 NOV 24 – Global South Trade Unions presented a COP29 statement that calls for $5 trillion a year of climate finance and public pathways to energy transition. Link to the joint statement here.
Global South Trade Unions echo the calls of the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) and its regional bodies from Africa, Asia Pacific, and the Americas; Global Union Federations (GUFs); and other trade union bodies for COP29 to deliver levels of climate finance that are commensurate with, first, the unprecedented scale of the threat posed by climate change and, second, the historic responsibilities of the Global North that are recognised under the UNFCCC.
As workers, we support a response to the climate crisis that promotes global justice and respects and protects workers’ rights as outlined in the Just Transition Work Program (JTWP). We urge all Parties to develop and implement effective and actionable steps to ensure a just and equitable transition in the Global South.
“We’re seeing an energy expansion with record use of fossil fuels growing alongside renewable forms of energy. So we spent several years critiquing that assessment and saying one of the main reasons why this was happening was because an over expectation of investment by the private sector is not showing up in terms of its investment capabilities. For every $5 invested in the so-called green economy, only $1 comes to the South, and it’s usually in the form of concessional loans, which add more debt to the countries of the South.”
Sean Sweeney, Trade Unions for Energy Democracy
“I come from the Philippines, a country that has just been visited by six storms in four weeks, at least 233 lives, 50,034 houses, 11.2 billion in infrastructure and 5.9 billion in agriculture have been swept and blown away by the storms. And with enterprises stopping operations, leaving devastated workers and their families behind without work, there are no wages. With their livelihoods gone, they would have no means to survive. The Cop 29 negotiations have been billed as the ‘Finance COP’. Everyone expects that through the new collective quantified goals, the Global South, which includes countries like the Philippines, would have a steady source of funds to recuperate from disasters and provide social protection and eventual reemployment. But no, the negotiations have stalled, and the Global North has refused to commit $5 trillion to the Global South.”
Julius Cainglet, Federation of Free Workers, International Trade Union Confederation-Asia Pacific
“We urgently need to define a public pathway to, energy transition, where the public, where, where, where countries can define how they want this transition to happen, the new forms of, financial, architecture that we see today, which is the space is in no form servicing or providing, they need a transition that we need for our, our countries, that forms of of, financing that are coming in the forms of loans, are already compounding or are compounding the existing, debt that we, that our countries are faced with, and therefore we are calling on countries to refrain from loans and provide any forms of financial assistance through grants.”
Rhoda Boateng, International Trade Union Confederation Africa
“The trade unions of the Global South defend public energy service as a fundamental human right for sustainable development and social justice. A public energy system guarantees access to affordable and clean energy, controls prices, promotes transparency, drives the energy transition, and strengthens national sovereignty. The case of Mexico, which reversed the privatization of the energy sector, is an inspiring example for the Global South. We urge the signatory parties to the Paris Agreement to defend energy as a public good and strengthen public energy services to ensure fair, sustainable energy at the service of human development.”
Sol Klas, Public Services International-Latin America
“The demands of the Global South are not requests — they are urgent, non-negotiable truths. True climate finance must be public, debt-free, and rooted in justice. We’ve had enough of empty promises at UN Climate Summits which leave workers and communities paying the price of climate breakdown while the crisis deepens. We stand in solidarity with Global South unions raising their voice for a public pathway approach to a just transition.”
Leon Sealey-Huggins, War on Want
Contacts:
Esthappen S | Global Campaign to Demand Climate Justice | [email protected]
Julian Reingold | Global Campaign to Demand Climate Justice | [email protected]
Isabel Rodrigo | Asian Peoples’ Movement on Debt and Development | [email protected]
