G20 urged to take ambitious action in the wake of the COVID-19 and economic crises 

Call to utilize the “unprecedented opening to collectively examine the current order” 

(LWI) - In a joint letter addressed to the finance ministers and Central Bank governors of the Group of 20 (G20), The Lutheran World Federation (LWF), together with the World Council of Churches, World Communion of Reformed Churches and Council for World Mission, calls on the group to utilize the “unprecedented opening to collectively examine the current order” in the wake of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and the related economic crisis. 

The pandemic has “exposed the deeper crisis which is a result of the current economic and development model, namely the exploitation of resources in a manner that destroys the planet and leaves the majority of people in poverty,” the letter states. 

The four organizations, representing 500 million Christians worldwide, go on to “underline that COVID-19 recovery measures and policies must be compatible with urgent and ambitious action to address the climate crisis.” 

They present four proposals for the G20 to take into consideration at the upcoming meetings of the finance ministers and central bank governors and at the Leaders’ Summit in November 2020: 

• Allocate adequate financial resources to the public health and social protection of the hundreds of millions of people whose livelihoods have been decimated by the pandemic and the related response measures, 
• Cancel the external debts of low- and middle-income countries, 
• Implement global tax reform to fund the recovery, and 
• Safeguard public goods and ecological commons. 

Since 2014 the four organizations have worked together in the joint initiative called “New International Financial and Economic Architecture” (NIFEA), which challenges the current global economic model and strives for an economy of life for all.  

Read the letter