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LWF and partners call on G20 leaders to prioritize people and the planet to create a fairer, climate-resilient world
(LWI) - The Lutheran World Federation (LWF) has joined with other global Christian partners calling on world leaders to act urgently to end the debt crisis and halt the ecological destruction which is devastating some of the world’s poorest nations.
In a letter sent to leaders of G20 nations who will be meeting in South Africa from 22 to 23 November, the leaders of six Christian and ecumenical organizations call for the cancellation of “unjust and unsustainable debts,” a reform of the global financial system “to prioritize people and the planet,” and the establishment of a “permanent, transparent, binding and comprehensive debt framework within the United Nations."
The letter is addressed to South African President Cyril Ramaphosa and other G20 leaders who gather in Johannesburg at the weekend for the first such summit on the African continent. It cites figures from a recent Oxfam report showing that nearly two-thirds of all wealth created since 2020 went to the richest one percent of the population.
Reform unfair fiscal policies
Meanwhile, it notes that global public debt is spiraling, with developing countries facing mounting repayment costs that often exceed their spending on essential services such as health and education. Today’s fiscal policies, the religious leaders point out, “predominantly benefit wealthy corporations and the affluent class.”
In a similar way, they affirm that “the debt crisis and the climate crisis are not separate – they are two sides of the same imperial coin.” Centuries of extraction, fossil fuel exploitation and ecological destruction by the Global North, the letter says, have left those who contributed least to climate change “compelled to borrow money to recover from hurricanes, floods and rising seas.”
The letter is signed by leaders of The Lutheran World Federation, the World Council of Churches, the World Communion of Reformed Churches, the World Methodist Council, the Council for World Mission and the United Society Partners in the Gospel. It urges G20 nations to act on a series of nine demands necessary to build a ‘new international financial and economic architecture’ that can help to create a “fairer, climate-resilient world.”
