The other problem climate change hit countries face

Inside Climate News - The countries most vulnerable to climate change are spending nearly 25 times more on repaying debt than on climate action, according to a new ActionAid report released Wednesday.  The report, “Debt Fuels the Climate Crisis: How the Finance Flows,” is “really unpacking the narrative about how the climate and debt crises are supercharging each other,” said Teresa Anderson, one of the authors and global lead on climate justice for ActionAid International, a nonprofit global federation focused on poverty eradication and social justice.

Across 65 highly climate-vulnerable countries analyzed, debt servicing is expected to consume 65 percent of government revenue in 2026. “They are only getting to keep one third of the money that they are actually raising, but that’s for climate, healthcare, education and public services,” said Anderson.

The imbalance comes as many of those countries are already struggling with both mounting debt and intensifying climate impacts. More than 93 percent of the climate-vulnerable countries are either in debt crisis or at significant risk of one, according to the report. “A lot of that debt was taken on very unfair, illegitimate terms and shouldn’t really be part of the economic picture today,” said Anderson.