Episode 14: Debt, development and climate action

Ahead of the G7 Summit in June 2021, the Climate Briefing returns to the question of financing climate action.

While the economic challenge of dealing with climate change was already well-established before the pandemic, the costs of responding to COVID-19 threaten to limit the fiscal capacity of governments to fund climate action.

In this episode, Anna and Ben speak to two experts about the relationship between economic development, developing country debt and climate action.

Ben speaks to Farhana Yamin, a leading environmental lawyer who is also an Associate Fellow at Chatham House. They discuss the economic threat posed by climate change and the need for a paradigm shift away from conventional, carbon-intensive, approaches to economic development.

Then Anna is joined by Paul Steele, Chief Economist for Shaping Sustainable Markets at the International Institute for Environment and Development, to find out how developing country debt relates to climate finance, and what can be done to address the so-called triple crisis of debt, climate change and biodiversity loss.

Credits:

Speakers: Farhana Yamin, Paul Steele

Hosts: Anna Aberg, Ben Horton

Editor: Jamie Reed

Recorded and produced by Chatham House