By Milliam Murigi
Only a small fraction of global climate finance is being used to ensure that the transition to a greener future supports and prioritises workers, women, and local communities, a new report has revealed.
The report, Climate Finance for Just Transition: How the Finance Flows, by ActionAid International, released ahead of the 30th United Nations Conference of Parties on climate change (COP30) climate summit in Brazil, reveals that only 2.8 percent of all climate finance goes toward “just transition” projects — those that prioritise fairness, inclusion, and protection for people affected by the shift away from fossil fuels and industrial agriculture.
Even more striking, only one in every 50 projects (1.96 percent) globally includes adequate support for people through the transition, while just one dollar in every 35 spent on climate finance reaches such initiatives.
“Our new report shows just transition approaches are jaw-droppingly underfunded, and people’s needs are at the bottom of the priority list. Something’s got to give. If just transition continues to be overlooked, then there’s a real risk that inequalities will deepen,” says Arthur Larok, Secretary General of ActionAid International.
The report highlights stories of harm by industrial agriculture companies and fossil fuel giants in communities ActionAid works within the Global South, identifying stories of strength as people and workers fight back against climate destruction and deforestation, as well as key sectors that must play a role in a greener future but are not protecting workers and communities.
For example, for generations, a community living near Timbiras in Maranhão, part of the legal Amazon region in Brazil, has made a living from babassu coconuts, a type of palm that grows naturally in the forest and which produces oil and fibres that are widely used in food, industry and cosmetics.
As deforestation advances, the community faces growing pressure from farmers, businessmen and politicians to leave their forest territory to make way for expanding industrial agriculture.
“They want to push us out to grow corn, soya, or cattle. They just want to grab this land,” says a babassu coconut breaker from the area who has requested not to be identified.
The community has faced intimidation methods to leave the land. For three years, planes and drones have been spraying the community with pesticides. This has led to community members experiencing headaches, nausea, stomach pains, dizziness and rashes. While pesticide attacks have now been banned, little is being done to enforce the ban, and deforestation continues.
“The Amazon forest acts as the lungs of planet earth, while the Cerrado serves as its veins, carrying life and connecting vital ecosystems. COP30 coming to Belém puts the spotlight on industrial agriculture’s role in driving Amazon and Cerrado destruction. It’s time for the world to move away from harmful industrial agriculture and towards agroecological approaches that feed people and cool the planet. Just transition approaches need to be applied to agriculture as well,” says Jessica Siviero, Climate Justice Specialist at ActionAid Brazil.
With one week to go until COP30 begins in Belém, Brazil, ActionAid is calling for a commitment to coordinate a just transition globally. Specifically, along with allies, it’s demanding a “Belém Action Mechanism” on just transition to be set up to ensure coordination, shared learning and to support implementation.
“This is a critical opportunity for global climate action to evolve for the better. COP30 needs to deliver on a global plan for just transition to support and reassure those on the frontlines, and to unleash the action our planet so urgently needs,” says Teresa Anderson, report author and Global Lead on Climate Justice at ActionAid.
