Stop fossil fuel spending to pay the UK’s climate debt

Rich Global North countries need to pay up their climate debts — the funds owed for causing the climate crisis by historically producing the most carbon emissions, while getting rich off these polluting industries. The money is there. Richer countries could raise five times more than what poorer Global South countries are asking for by taxing the profits of fossil fuel corporations; cutting taxpayer handouts for destructive industrial agriculture, fossil fuel and arms companies; and by taxing billionaires.  

As the UN Climate Summit, COP29, approaches from 11- 24 November 2024 in Baku, Azerbaijan, the UK government must pay up to support Global South countries as they rebuild after climate disaster and transition to fairer, greener economies.  

The UK’s false leadership

When UK politicians say that “Britain is back in the business of climate leadership,” what does this really mean? Does it involve the UK increasing efforts to pay its fair share of global spending on climate action, to address its historic climate debts?  Or is this just another empty promise? Real leadership should mean redirecting spending away from harmful industries —  including fossil fuels and military spending.  Instead, this money should be invested in changing our societies and economies to address climate breakdown and guarantee everyone the right to a dignified life. This means sufficient renewable energy for all; food sovereignty (food which is grown, owned, democratically distributed and traded by communities themselves); and universal public services like healthcare, education, and housing.  

Beyond the promises

In reality, the UK government’s claims of climate ‘leadership’ paint a misleading picture. While politicians make bold promises, the UK is still fuelling climate breakdown, facilitating the UK’s trade in arms and pouring billions into military spending. Throughout 2024, the UK government has allowed the continued development of new oil and gas projects in the North Sea, while funding fossil fuel expansion in Africa and other regions. 

The UK government is pouring billions into so-called climate “solutions” such as hydrogen and Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) (risky and unproven technology to capture and store carbon dioxide emissions underground). Hydrogen, touted as a clean energy source, is not only costly, polluting and inefficient, it’s often produced from fossil fuels, undermining its green credentials. Fossil fuel lobbyists are pushing for governments to bank on these unproven technologies so that they can continue to pollute instead of reducing fossil fuel emissions. 

These investments raise serious questions about the government’s commitment to tackling the climate crisis.

Despite the urgent need to phase out fossil fuels, and fix our food systems, oil and gas companies and industrial agricultural corporations — largely based in rich Global North countries like the UK — are raking in bigger profits than ever before. These profits are boosted by a staggering £653 billion these sectors receive in taxpayer handouts every year. British corporations are prominent among those profiting from destroying our planet and people’s livelihoods. These multinational corporations use their wealth to lobby for policies that benefit them — by falsely arguing they are key to economic growth, job creation and energy or food ‘security’. At the same time, financial institutions such as the International Monetary Fund (IMF), in which the UK plays a key role, lock Global South countries into unjust debt (through debt-creating loans). Global South countries are then pressured to invest in fossil fuels and open up their economies to polluting industries as part of the conditions attached to their loans. The interests and powerful influence of Global North multinational corporations work to hide their true destructive costs at the expense of people and planet.  

A broken system

The billions spent on false climate ‘solutions’ and subsidies for the fossil fuel industry are just the tip of the iceberg. At the heart of the issue is the UK’s central position in the rigged global economic system — which generates increasing wealth and power for the already rich and powerful, whilst extracting wealth and resources from the Global South.

The UK’s lax approach to global tax rules means that from Bermuda to Jersey to the City of London, the UK and its overseas territories are responsible for about a third of global tax dodging . In just the last two years, billionaires have grabbed an additional $42 trillion — twice as much as the rest of the 99% of the world's population. Whilst working people struggle to make ends meet, billionaires are paying less than 0.3% tax on their wealth. If Global North countries like the UK taxed the wealth of the top 1% by just 5%, this would generate at least $1.7 trillion for action on climate.  

Cut war spending, fund climate action

Military spending is yet another example of where the UK’s ‘leadership’ causes more harm than good. Alongside fossil fuel subsidies and so-called ‘green solutions’ that fail to address the climate crisis, the UK pours vast sums of money into military spending, wasting tens of billions of pounds on weapons of war every year. The new UK government is doubling down on this approach, recently reasserting its ‘cast-iron’ commitment to increasing military spending from an already eye-watering £64 billion to £87.1 billion. 

This approach isn’t unique to the UK — it mirrors what’s happening globally. In 2023, global military expenditure rose for the ninth consecutive year to an all-time high of $2443 billion. The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), with the UK as the founding member, collectively spent $1.34 trillion on what it called ‘defence’ in 2023. And in 2022 alone, the G7 — a group of the world’s largest and most advanced economies — spent over $1 trillion funding war and militarism around the world. Meanwhile, G7 pledges to action for the climate under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) amount to only $43.9 billion — a mere 4% of what G7 countries collectively spend on war. While military budgets continue to expand, the UK remains unwilling to commit to better climate funding or invest in public services at home.

Prioritising destruction over justice isn’t new for the world’s sixth largest economy. The UK’s wealth was built on a legacy of colonial exploitation of the Global South’s people and resources, marked by violent military expansion, and massive fossil-fuel extraction. The trade in enslaved peoples alone is estimated to have contributed 3.5% to Britain’s economy between 1750 and 1833, equivalent to around £95.87 billion in today’s money.  Taking into account the vast harms caused by transatlantic slavery, recent reports estimate the UK owes $14-22 trillion in damages for its role in transatlantic slavery. This vast figure reflects the extensive unpaid labour, forced migration, human suffering, and enduring economic disparities caused by Britain’s role in the transatlantic slave trade. This legacy isn’t just history—it laid the foundations for an economy that continues to prioritise profit, often at the expense of people and the planet.  And today, for every dollar that flows in aid from richer Global North countries to the Global South, $30 dollars flows from Global South back to the Global North; through illicit financial flows, appropriation of resources, or from the exploitation of workers in the Global South. 

What does true ‘leadership’ look like?

It’s clear that the money to pay the UK’s climate debt is out there. It is being spent on destructive military operations, whilst so-called ‘green’ solutions act as dangerous distractions, allowing the fossil fuel industry to keep polluting for profit. Public subsidies for polluting industries and a rigged tax system undermine progress and drive resources away from just, ecological and equitable transitions to fairer societies.

If the UK government focused its efforts on real action for the climate, these funds could instead be directed towards the enormous cost of climate disasters — from floods in Bangladesh to landslides in Brazil. Renewable energy could be scaled up more equitably, ensuring everyone has access to clean energy. Moreover, this funding could support Global South countries to break from exploiting their valuable resources for unsustainable consumption in the Global North; reject the  failed policies of austerity that are imposed on them by institutions such as the IMF; and instead strengthen the social welfare systems and public services that climate scientists have said are critical to both protecting people and adapting our societies to the increase in climate violence.

Much more can be done to protect everyone’s right to a dignified life in harmony with the planet, if the UK leads by redirecting money away from harmful industries. The coming year will test the UK’s commitment to climate justice. Will it continue to funnel public money into fossil fuel projects and military spending, or invest in a just, ecological, and equitable transition to greener, fairer societies?

Globally, people are demanding changes to our economies and societies to halt climate breakdown, end wars, and tackle inequality. The UK can afford to #PayUp. Redirecting spending from destructive industries would allow the UK to pay its climate debt — not as charity, but as a necessary repayment for centuries of extraction and exploitation. The time to act is now.