Catch up on our top papers and blogs of last year, as selected by Oxfam’s Policy & Practice team.
Why are we still waiting for justice on loss and damage?
Remember the fanfare two years ago when rich countries promised new money to respond to the destructive impacts of the climate emergency? Well, the paltry climate finance deal at COP29 contained precisely zero concrete commitments on loss and damage. Chiara Liguori on how the hopes of poorer countries and communities were raised – only to be brutally dashed.
The private jets leaving COP29 are the ultimate symbol of climate injustice. Now the UK must go further in taxing them
With COP29 failing to deliver anything close to the climate finance lower-income countries need, the world needs to look again at taxing rich people like us, says Julia Davies of Patriotic Millionaires UK. Expanding on Britain’s recent small increase in duty for private jets would both raise revenue and make a powerful statement on climate fairness.
How should governments support people hit by climate damage? Five practical lessons from Kenya…
As the world looks to next week’s COP29 to deliver on promised Loss and Damage funding, Chiara Liguori shares insights from a pioneering Scotland-funded project that repaired damaged water systems, provided cash to impacted communities and supported peacebuilding.
How billionaire ‘pollutocrats’ are driving our climate crisis – and what we can do about it
If everyone used private jets and superyachts like 50 of the world’s richest billionaires, the remaining carbon budget to stay within 1.5C would be burned up in just two days. Nafkote Dabi introduces Oxfam’s new climate report, which spells out how the emissions of the super-rich are driving inequality, hunger and heat-related deaths.
Inadequate climate action helped fuel Scotland’s political turmoil: here’s how credibility can be rebuilt
Ditching a supposedly legally binding emissions reduction target helped to drive Scotland’s First Minister out of office. Whoever is in charge next must rekindle the leadership that, just two years ago, saw Scotland become the first nation to commit funds to address losses and damages caused by climate change, says Jamie Livingstone.
The clean energy transition needs to be fast – but it must also be fair
Dante Dalabajan and Ruth Mayne introduce a new Oxfam research report – produced by staff and partners from Africa, Asia, Latin America, the Middle East, US and Europe. The paper investigates the implications of the clean energy transition for lower-income countries and communities and asks how the world can achieve a truly just, as well as fast, transition.
As UN experts call for an end to greenwashing, it’s time for companies to step up on net zero
Companies in the richest countries have still not agreed to climate measures that are in line with staying below 1.5 degrees. Danielle Smith and Hilde Stroot welcome new guidance from a UN panel, released at COP27, to push action by firms on corporate net-zero plans – and set out five key ways in which its recommendations will lead to climate justice.
The best answer to climate change – or a regressive policy set to fail? A guide to the arguments over carbon pricing
Economists love it, while NGOs have recently grown more sceptical… so does carbon pricing work? James Morrissey introduces a new Oxfam primer to help you weigh up the case for and against
A historic legal victory for climate justice in France
On February 3rd 2021 in Paris, a landmark ruling found the French at fault for failing to take enough action to tackle the climate crisis. Two years after the launch of the “Case of the Century” by four NGOs including Oxfam France, this decision should serve as a warning to other governments to keep in line with their public commitments …