Oil Change International Calls Rich Countries “Incredibly Shortsighted”  as FfD4 Conference Ends in Seville

Amid a record heat wave and the worst-ever debt crisis, rich countries have blocked urgent reforms at the once-a-decade 4th Financing for Development conference (FfD4) in Seville, Spain. 

This week has seen the adoption of the “Compromiso de Seville” as well as side announcements from the world leaders, finance institutions, and civil society in attendance. 

In response, Bronwen Tucker, Public Finance Manager at Oil Change International, said: 

“At FfD4 rich country leaders have been peddling the idea that the private sector can lead a transition to 100% renewables. We have 10 years of evidence showing this is deepening inequalities and prolonging the fossil fuel era. Much stronger government investment and coordination is needed. But our unfair global economic system puts these tools out of reach for most of the world. We need to see rich countries like the EU, Canada, Japan, and the UK agree to a UN debt workout mechanism and pay their fair share of public grant-based climate finance.

“In a shifting geopolitical order, anything else is not just immoral but incredibly short-sighted. It is clear from the rays of good news this week that the rest of the world is not waiting and not giving up. The joint Borrower’s Club, the expert report recommendations and the initiatives to tax the super-rich and aviation all show a viable path forward to COP30, BRICS, and G20.”

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Notes to the editor: Ahead of FfD4, Oil Change International and 17 other civil society partners released a report Private Fantasies, Public Realities showing how governments’ over-reliance on a private-sector led energy transition is failing. It found that only 38% of $5.7 trillion in global annual finance needed for a fair transition to renewable energy is flowing and that blended finance as the key approach promoted to fill gaps is attracting 4-7 times less private investment than predicted.