Cafod called on world leaders meeting in the Japanese city of Hiroshima last weekend to step up action to address the climate crisis. Cafod urged the G7 to stop funding fossil fuels, that is to stop opening new oil and gas fields and instead invest in clean and green energy and also, to provide new and additional funding to help prevent famine in East Africa which is threatening millions of lives.
Thirdly, Cafod called on the G7 to pressure private creditors and banks like Blackrock to cancel debts of poorer countries so that funds could be released for them to bolster climate resilience.
Graham Gordon, head of public policy for Cafod, said: “The G7 has repeatedly failed the world’s poorest countries by failing to grip the climate crisis. While world leaders have their heads buried in the sand, lives are being lost. Floods have killed thousands of people in Pakistan and DR Congo, and in Kenya and Somalia millions are on the brink of famine because of drought.” He added, “the G7 needs to get a grip of the climate crisis by phasing out fossil fuels, funding the fight against famine and stopping private banks from clawing back debt repayments from countries who are suffering from a climate crisis they did not cause.”
Since the G7 last met in June 2022, millions around the world, especially in the poorest countries, have suffered deadly consequences of changing weather patterns due to climate change. Cafod reported that in East Africa, more than 36 million people are suffering from hunger and more than 21 million require food assistance after long-term drought. Last year, the UK gave just one-fifth of the aid it had provided to East Africa during the last hunger crisis in 2017-18.
Out of control wildfires have swept countries around the world and are becoming an ever increasing threat. Just a few weeks ago, deadly floods hit the people of DR Congo. Hundreds of lives have been lost, homes destroyed.
Mr Gordon said, “We cannot afford any more delay. We cannot afford any new oil and gas fields being opened, we need clean and green energy now. The G7 needs to get a grip of the climate crisis by phasing out fossil fuels, funding the fight against famine and stopping private banks from clawing back debt repayments from countries who are suffering from a climate crisis they did not cause.”
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