Climate justice is a complex issue, as it requires persuading governments and leaders that emissions in one part if the world are causing climate chaos in another part of the world, for which the emitters are responsible. It is a conceptual analysis of equity beyond economics and cause (pollution) and effect (climate change) that spans decades. This level of complexity is even further muddied by the pervasive economic relationships of trade and aid from which developing countries. Particularly as rapidly developing countries in the majority world are becoming entrenched in fossil fuel technology through aid programs which fund power stations, oil and gas pipelines and exploration of gas, oil and coal fields. Who is to blame? The funders or aid recipients ?

This leads to debate about the delivery of aid programs and indeed the concept of ‘development’. FoE believes that over-consumption and rapid and unsustainable growth (which is the root causes of climate change) have perversely influenced the concept of ‘development’ to the extent that ‘poverty’ can be alleviated by extending the growth industrial, the profits of which will trickle down to the poorest of the poor. By connecting the conceptual responsibility that countries such as Australia have developed to respond to poverty through international aid and the need to move away from fossil fuel development energy and industrial system, we can start to address mitigation of climate change impacts in the global south through practical interventions.

It is clear that both funders and the aid recipients have responsibility for the climate change impacts of aid projects. However Friends of the Earth’s simple investigation of what Australian aid money has been funding and where, has identified a trend in funding fossil fuel projects in countries that have simultaneously propertied as being the reason Australia will not ratify the Kyoto Protocol.

By challenging Australia’s financing of fossil fuel projects through aid programs and arrangements, FoE hopes to highlight the opportunities to address social justice concerns in tandem with pursuing the commercial interests of the fossil fuel industry in developing countries. Our goal is to increase pressure to ultimately phase out fossil fuels domestically as well as internationally, in favour of renewable energy.

As part of our first steps in this campaign we have looked at the trend in aid funding of energy projects through bi-lateral programs (country to country) and through the Asian Development Bank as a major multi-lateral financial institution which Australia provides funds through our federal aid budget.

Please see the following documents for the results of that research: