PARLIAMENTARY EARLY DAY MOTION
Debt cancellation and climate change (16 November 2021)

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.

Sponsored by:
Bell Ribeiro-Addy (Labour)