Debt for Climate describes itself as a “movement of movements”, led by the Global South and active in 25 countries. It calls for the total and unconditional cancellation of the financial debts of the world’s poorest countries, which it considers illegitimate, so that they may free up resources to invest in tackling the climate crisis, for which, moreover, these countries are the least responsible.

These are debts that Pope Francis himself described as “unjust and unpayable” in the “Bull proclaiming the Ordinary Jubilee of the Year 2025”. In that document, the former pontiff explicitly called on wealthy nations to “cancel the debts of countries that could never repay them”, stressing that “more than a matter of magnanimity, it is a matter of justice”.

Breaking the vicious circle

The Letter sent to Prevost specifically calls for every day after the close of the Holy Year to be treated as if it were still part of the Holy Year, until unconditional debt cancellation is achieved. This burden forces many countries of the Global South to squander public resources on debt servicing, diverting essential funds from investment in mitigation and adaptation measures to face the ongoing climate collapse. “We need — the Letter states — unconditional cancellation of the illegitimate, illegal and odious debts of the Global South.”

As if that were not enough, the enormous pressure arising from the need to repay debt forces many of these countries to continue allowing extractive industries, including fossil fuel companies, to operate within their territories — the classic vicious circle. Meanwhile, the countries of the Global North, primarily responsible for the climate crisis, profit both from the exploitation of those very resources and from the interest payments they receive on the debt.

For this reason, beyond the debt issue itself, attention is directed towards the current global financial system, for which a profound reform is being demanded: “a new human-centred international financial architecture”, to use the words spoken by Pope Leo XIV in his address to participants at Cop30.

It can be done. Because it has been done before

To those who claim that large-scale debt cancellation is too complex or even impossible, the Letter responds that the opposite is true. Also because history shows it has already happened.

It occurred with the campaign promoted by the Jubilee 2000 Coalition ahead of the Jubilee of the year 2000: over the years, it succeeded in obtaining the cancellation of approximately 130 billion dollars’ worth of debt for highly indebted poor countries. Perhaps the most famous case in history, however, concerned a European country, Germany: the agreement reached in 1953 on Germany’s war debts was one of the factors that enabled the country to become Europe’s economic “locomotive”.

The case of Ecuador dates back to the first decade of the new millennium; the Letter recalls it because the process began with a debt audit — the same tool currently being used in Senegal. A public audit of sovereign debt is indeed indicated as an effective means for heavily indebted countries to regain control over their debt in the name of justice.

Debt for Climate restarts in Italy

Among the signatories of the Letter are groups and organisations working on debt, faith and climate issues, including ActionAid International, Christians for Future, Eurodad and Pax Christi. From Italy, signatories include Attac, Climate Action South Tyrol, Fridays For Future and Ultima Generazione, among others.

“The struggle for the Jubilee demands — comments José Treviño, from the Debt for Climate Coordination for the Global North — cannot reopen only in 25 years’ time. We need leadership, peoples and organised movements that continue fighting every day to uphold the promise of the Jubilee: cancelling debt and restoring the Earth”, referring to the biblical appeal for the restitution of the land found in the Book of Leviticus.

A couple of years ago, the Italian chapter of Debt for Climate had also been launched and was officially presented during the World Congress for Climate Justice in Milan, but it did not then manage to gather sufficient momentum to continue. The international campaign now wishes to try once again to take root in Italy — also because of the strategic importance the country holds as the cradle of the Catholic world.

And the Catholic world, moreover, has been strongly committed on this front. In anticipation of the Jubilee of 2025, Caritas Internationalis promoted the “Turn debt into hope” campaign. In Italy, it was relaunched by the campaign “Cambiare la rotta”, promoted by Caritas Italiana together with a network of organisations including Earth Day Italia, Focsiv, Fondazione Finanza Etica, Salesiani per il sociale and Sermig Arsenale della Pace.

See: La cancellazione del debito dei Paesi poveri vada oltre il Giubileo

Photo. COP30 and climate justice