Global Citizens Unite: It’s Time to Reform Climate Financing

The Prime Minister of Barbados, Mia Mottley, said once again on Thursday that she wants to change the rules of international financial institutions so that countries with a lower and middle-level income can have their debt forgiven and get more money to adapt to climate changes.

Mottley believes that it’s much harder for poor countries to get development funds than it is for a young person to be able to get a 30 year mortgage. Mottley is putting effort into reforming the international banks that have been providing funding for poorer countries since the end of World War II.

Hugh Jackman and the head of the charitable organization Global Citizen, Hugh Evans, recently opened the Global Citizen NOW summit in New York. This summit brings together influential people like politicians, business owners and celebrities in order to try to rally support and inspire change around the world.

“There is a problem,” said Evans. “The world’s wealthiest nations promised to give the world’s poorest countries $100 billion for global warming but only gave them about $16 billion. That isn’t enough and makes people not trust the ones who made that promise. Without trust, you can’t make progress.”

This promise was made in 2009 and it was supposed to be done by 2020, but here we are in 2023 and that money still hasn’t been delivered yet.

Global Citizen is starting a new campaign called Power Our Planet. It’s meant to help people understand and support Mottley’s plan for reforming global banks and climate financing. If you’re interested in this cause, you can sign the petition that asks world leaders and financial institutions to prioritize making our planet more just, equitable and sustainable.

Mottley wants to make it easier for countries to borrow money with lower rates, and give more cash for investing in things like climate protection and switching to cleaner energy sources. This plan has been supported by President Macron of France.

Dr. Rajiv Shah, the president of The Rockefeller Foundation, told Big Big News that nobody has come up with a technical plan for reforming the Bretton Woods institutions that could generate hundreds of millions in public finance for many countries who are struggling to get money. This idea is championed by Dr. Mottley.

Global Citizen is a group of people trying to make the world a better place by fighting poverty, climate change and all kinds of inequality. They have big, star-studded concerts in Central Park and Accra, Ghana. Everyone is invited to join and show their support, either through attending the events or using the Global Citizen mobile app. The goal is to push politicians into taking real action on these issues so everybody can benefit from it!

Global Citizen has a phone app where you can take quizzes, sign petitions and share posts on the internet. Dr. Dan Stein heads an organization called Giving Green that looks closely at climate change initiatives, and while he wants the goals of Global Citizen to be successful, he is not sure how useful it will be in achieving them.

Someone said to go beyond tweeting, emailing and creating petitions so that individuals can make a bigger change. There is research that suggests contributing to advocacy organizations makes the most powerful impact. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau also appeared at the summit to announce funding for local organizations that work towards gender equality in various parts of the world.

Erin Kiley from Oxfam Canada is very glad about the money that the Canadian government gave as a gift – $195 million over 5 years. This money will be used to help grassroots groups, especially those helping with women’s rights who are currently being targeted.

Prime Minister Trudeau said that people need to not take abortion access for granted, and he thinks men should do better in terms of speaking with their sons about women’s rights. He believes having talks about equality is important.

The Associated Press has teamed up with The Conversation US and Lilly Endowment Inc. to help bring more news about organizations helping others. Just go to https://bigbignews.net/philanthropy to see everything the AP has shared about this topic!