Press release

By the end of tomorrow (Friday 13 January 2012), the average person in Britain will have emitted as much carbon dioxide as the average person in Kenya will in an entire year, according to figures from the World Development Movement. 

The latest available data shows Kenya’s annual per capita carbon emissions at 0.293 tons, while the UK’s are 8.351 tons. Despite having such little responsibility for causing climate change, Kenyans are facing some of the worst weather related disasters globally. Last year, Kenya and neighbouring East African countries suffered their worst drought in 60 years, resulting in a severe food crisis.

By 2 January the average UK citizen had already emitted as much CO2 as the average person in Chad or Afghanistan will by the end of 2012.

By 16 January the average Brit will have emitted as much CO2 as the average Bangladeshi will all year. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change predicts that Bangladesh will face an increasing number of disasters due to typhoons and tropical storms.

By 1 March a UK citizen will have emitted as much CO2 as the average citizen of India will do all year. An estimated 700...

Barclays Bank has been shortlisted for the 2012 Public Eye ‘shame award’ due to its financial speculation on food prices. Anti-poverty campaign group the World Development Movement, which nominated the bank, says its activity is fuelling hunger and poverty worldwide. 

Barclays is estimated to make up to £340 million a year from speculating in food ‘futures’ markets, making it the biggest UK player in the markets. Research by the World Development Movement shows that a massive influx of speculative money in food markets is driving sharp price spikes, sending the cost of food soaring beyond the reach of the world’s poorest people. Financial speculation on food nearly doubled between 2006 and 2011.

Barclays CEO Bob Diamond responded to the Occupy movement by telling the BBC in November that banks must be “better citizens”. But Barclays has ignored calls from campaigners to put the basic human need for food before the profits it makes from speculation.

Amy Horton, campaigner at the World Development Movement, said today:

Barclays is essentially gambling on food prices, at the expense of millions of people...

Durban, 16:45, 9 December 2011

As negotiations on the final outcome of the UN climate talks look set to continue late into the night, negotiators remain focused on the EU’s proposed roadmap to replace the Kyoto Protocol with a package that makes the same demands of poor developing countries as it does of rich industrialised countries. The talks have paid almost no attention to the two most urgent issues for developing countries: emissions reductions by developed countries, and finance to help people in poor countries cope with climate change.

On the last day of the talks, Murray Worthy, policy officer at the World Development Movement said:

“The UK and EU’s talk of a new global deal is little more than a distraction from their inaction. The EU is failing to take responsibility for its part in causing climate change.  It should be taking the lead through meaningful action. Instead, the EU ‘roadmap’ has been a smokescreen for developed countries’ failure to do what is needed. It is the world’s poorest people, those least responsible for this crisis, who will end up paying the highest price.”

The talks look set to result in a new Green Climate Fund to deliver finance to developing countries. But the World Development Movement...

A report launched today by the World Development Movement reveals that UK climate aid is being used to produce cheap electricity for the US multinational Walmart, through a project that violates the rights of indigenous people in Mexico.

The report, ‘Power to the people?’, details how money taken from the UK aid budget has been used by the World Bank to finance wind farms in the Mexican state of Oaxaca, built without the consent of the indigenous people who own the land. The project produces enough electricity to power 160,000 homes, but is instead being sold at a discounted rate to Walmart. The project is 99 per cent controlled by French electricity giant EDF.

The La Mata and La Ventosa wind park is part funded the World Bank’s Clean Technology Fund, which receives 14 per cent of its money - or £385 million – from the UK overseas aid budget. The fund’s objectives include poverty reduction, but the wind park has done nothing to increase energy access among the seven per cent of Oaxaca’s population who have no electricity.

Local indigenous woman Bettina Cruz Velazquez told the World Development Movement:

With the pretext of advancing renewable energy, big corporations are occupying our...

• Chancellor George Osborne parodied by the World Development Movement and writers Hoot Comedy
• Comedy series calls on George Osborne to ‘do the right thing’ and back regulation of food speculation by banks
• Speculation is driving high food prices worldwide. High food costs have pushed the food bill for the average UK household up by £188 [1]in the past year, and are forcing  millions of people in developing countries into poverty and hunger

UK Chancellor George Osborne is being re-imagined in a brand new internet comedy series starring Rufus Jones (Holy Flying Circus) which premiers today (22 November) at www.therealgeorgeosborne.com. The Real George Osborne follows George and his long-suffering advisor, Vicki, as he tries to raise his political profile in a bid to become the next Prime Minister.

Filmed in 14 parts and airing between now and Christmas, The Real George Osborne sees George undertake a number of ill-advised PR stunts in order to compete with Boris Johnson as ‘the most recognised Tory’ and unseat David Cameron. Our bumbling Chancellor takes street-dance lessons, enlists a full-time reality TV crew and struggles with fad diets to try to improve his image.

The...

Protest and photo call: Anti-poverty campaigners and activists from Occupy London will stage a human casino outside Goldman Sachs highlighting how the bank’s betting on food prices is fuelling global hunger.

When: 12.15-12.30pm, Thursday 27 October

Where: Goldman Sachs, 133 Fleet Street, EC4A 2BB

Anti-poverty campaigners from the World Development Movement will show support for the occupation at London Stock Exchange by staging a human casino outside Goldman Sachs’ offices, to highlight how the bank is gambling on hunger by speculating on food prices. The action is part of efforts to expand the reach of the Occupy movement.

Goldman Sachs made $1 billion dollars last year from speculating on food prices. Huge growth in financial speculation on food has spurred sharp increases in global food prices, which in the last six months of 2010 alone pushed another 44 million people into extreme poverty. In the UK, average annual food bills have jumped by £260 in a year.

Murray Worthy, policy officer at the World Development Movement said:

Reckless trading by bankers not only caused the financial crisis, it is...

More than 450 economists from over 40 countries have called on the G20 finance ministers, who are meeting in Paris this week, to take urgent action to stop financial speculation in commodity markets driving up food prices and fuelling hunger. 

'Excessive financial speculation is contributing to increasing volatility and record food prices, exacerbating global hunger and poverty,’ say the economists in a letter to the finance ministers. ‘With around 1 billion people enduring chronic hunger worldwide, action is urgently needed to curb excessive speculation and its effects on global food prices.

Economists from top universities including Cambridge, Oxford, Berkeley, Cornell and the London School of Economics have signed the letter, adding their voices to an escalating international campaign. The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation, the Pope, French President Nicolas Sarkozy and Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz are among those who have already spoken out in favour of curbing speculation.

The G20 agriculture ministers have also called on their finance counterparts to introduce tighter regulation. Speculation is...

‘Broken’ financial markets are driving up food prices, reveals a new report released today, as inflation figures show UK consumers are now paying over seven per cent more for bread than a year ago.[1]

The report from anti-poverty group the World Development Movement shows how financial speculation on basic foods is driving spiralling prices around the world, which reached record levels earlier this year. The organisation claims the UK government risks condemning millions of the world’s poorest people to hunger by failing to back European regulation to curb excessive speculation.

In the last six months of 2010 alone, rising food prices pushed 44 million more people worldwide into extreme poverty.

Financial players including banks like Goldman Sachs and Barclays have taken over food markets, says the World Development Movement’s report, with the total assets of financial speculators in these markets nearly doubling from $65 billion to $126 billion in the last five years. Not a single penny of this has been invested in agriculture.

The report, ‘Broken Markets’, finds that:

•...

Groups from 13 developing countries have today slammed UK climate loans, set to be agreed in South Africa this week. The loans are to be given through the World Bank.

Community leaders in countries including Nepal, Bangladesh, Mozambique and Yemen have written to British cabinet ministers Chris Huhne and Andrew Mitchell rejecting the loans the UK is providing to their countries to help them cope with climate change.

In their letter they say the UK and other rich industrialised countries, who have done the most to cause climate change, owe a ‘climate debt’ to poor countries who are worst affected by the phenomenon. ‘Climate loans will only lock our countries into further debt, and further impoverish our people,’ reads the letter.

New research from the World Development Movement and Jubilee Debt Campaign reveals that the UK’s climate funding is pushing the world’s poorest countries deeper into debt.  Their report, ‘Climate Loan Sharks’, also condemns the World Bank for imposing its own priorities on countries...

• Price of world’s biggest food crop doubles 
• Latest official figures show 5.8% annual rise in UK food prices 

The World Development Movement has warned that a new ‘summer of speculation’ is fuelling record food prices, as new figures show that financial betting on maize prices has contributed to a doubling in the cost of corn over the past year. 

The anti-poverty group is calling for regulation to curb financial gambling on the price of basic foods, which international experts say is contributing to skyrocketing prices and pushing millions of people into hunger and poverty.

The price of maize – more of which is grown than any other staple food crop­ – has increased by 102% since April 2010. New research from the World Development Movement reveals that hedge funds, investment banks and others own futures contracts for maize worth $15.7 billion, up 127.5% from a year ago. 

Two of the UK’s most popular foods, popcorn and cornflakes, are made from maize. It is Africa’s most important staple food, and a key...

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Press release, 19th April 2011

• Canadian First Nations representatives to voice opposition in person at RBS AGM
• New research shows that, since public bail-out in 2008, RBS has raised more than £5.6 billion for companies involved in controversial Canadian tar sands projects, £2.2 billion of which was in the last twelve months

Representatives from some of Canada’s First Nations are today preparing to demand in person that the Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) stops financing the controversial tar sands industry in Alberta, Canada, at the bank’s AGM today. [1]

The protest comes as new research, published by a coalition of UK and North American NGOs, shows that since being bailed out with public money in 2008, RBS has raised £5.6 billion in corporate financing to companies involved in Alberta’s tar sands extraction and pipeline development, £2.2 billion of which was in the last twelve months. [2]

The First Nations representatives are expected to arrive at the AGM at RBS’s global head quarters in Gogarburn, Edinburgh, at 1pm. They will take into the AGM a photo petition and motions from UK taxpayers angry that the bank is investing their money in tar sands extraction and use the meeting to call on the board to cease financing tar sands...

Press release, 28.02.2011

• Government aid spending plans criticised by World Development Movement
• Government accused of fighting terrorism, instead of poverty, with the aid budget
• 0.7 target only reached through double counting of aid and climate money

The Department for International Development will tomorrow announce changes to the way aid money is spent. Aid for ‘fragile’ states will be a priority, as will maximum value for money and the UK's national interests. It will also cut aid to UN agencies that support agricultural development in favour of emergency relief programmes. The news has been met with criticism from anti-poverty campaigners, the World Development Movement who criticised the government for 'fighting terrorism, not poverty, with the aid budget'.

Julian Oram, head of campaigns and policy at the World Development Movement said:

Defence spending has been cut and it's clear that the government is looking to plug the hole by raiding the already tiny international development budget. The government will be fighting terrorism, not poverty, with the aid budget. This is shameful because aid is supposed to help provide health care and education to the poorest countries in the world, not...

This year, the British public will be paying more for their Christmas turkey because of City speculators. Betting on commodity prices by hedge funds and investment banks has led to rapidly rising prices of animal feed [1], driving up the retail price of turkeys.

Paul Kelly, an award winning turkey farmer and breeder, warned that turkey prices this Christmas are going to be more expensive than last year and we will be paying up to £3 extra for our festive bird. He said:

“It’s all down to feed prices which have been rising at a rapid pace this year. And it’s entirely fuelled by speculators in the commodity food markets. It’s got nothing to do with wheat stocks. It’s city money men who are driving these prices.”

In spite of the wildfires destroying Russian wheat during the summer, the US and Europe and other grain producing regions have had good harvests this year and the UN even issued a statement saying that global wheat stocks are sufficient.[2]

Since the financial crisis began, market analysts have noted a wave of speculative money pouring into commodity derivative markets, including food. Many experts link this activity by banks and hedge funds to recent volatility and sudden inflation in the retail costs of food and energy.[3]

Paul Kelly adds...

• New figures produced on eve of World Food Day reveal new wave of financial speculation on wheat and corn
• Speculation drives surge in wheat and corn prices to two-year highs

New evidence that speculation on food by hedge funds, pension funds and investment banks is fuelling the rise of bread and other basic foods has been released by anti-poverty campaigners on World Food Day, October 16, 2010.

The World Development Movement has calculated that over the summer, financial speculators in Chicago alone bought up corn futures contracts equivalent to nearly 1.7 billion bushels [1] – more than the annual consumption of Brazil, a country of some 260million people and the world’s third largest consumer of corn.

The figure for wheat over the same period was 241 million bushels [1], equivalent to seven times the amount consumed by Kenya, or half the UK’s total annual wheat harvest.

Between April and September 2010, world prices for wheat rose by over 40 per cent, while corn has risen by over 30 per cent. The campaigners say that these prices rises, which are the highest since the food crisis that gripped the world in 2008, are contributing to higher inflation in the UK for basics foodstuffs such as bread and pasta in the UK, as well causing...

WDM condemns the link between public money and Cairn’s Arctic drilling. RBS underwrote loan to oil company one month before it acquired rig for arctic drilling.

A coalition of environmental and social justice organisations in the UK are condemning the use of public money through the 83% publicly-owned RBS to provide finance for Cairn energy that may have enabled them to start controversial offshore drilling in Arctic Greenland.

See coverage on Cairn's Greenland drilling here - Quest for oil reaches Earth’s final frontier - Herald

The revelation was made during the weekend that Camp for Climate Action was taking place at the Edinburgh headquarters of RBS [1] and a few days before the Greenpeace boat, the Esperanza, was challenged by a Danish warship near the Cairn rig. [2]

Edinburgh-based oil company Cairn Energy have started drilling in the Davis Straits off the coast of Greenland, nicknamed 'Iceberg Alley and close to where the recent Petermann glacier broke away. According to research that was revealed in the Sunday Herald, [3] RBS loaned $100 million to Cairn Energy on 11 December 2009, and then on 21 December 2009 it...

The US Senate is expected to approve a landmark bill on Wall Street reform later today, covering bank bonuses, financial transparency of complex derivatives, regulation of hedge funds and food markets. This legislation will send shockwaves across the global financial sector, but WDM fears that proposals for a similar EU crack down of the banks may not be backed the UK government.

US legislators have been under enormous public pressure to regulate secretive and complex derivative trading, which is blamed for triggering the global economic crisis.

France and other European nations are strongly supportive of similar proposals at the EU level, but we are concerned that the UK government could seek to block such reforms and are launching a new campaign next week to push the government to take the lead in pushing for financial reform in Europe. We point to the City of London’s track record of lobbying against EU efforts to force the so-called ‘shadow banking’ system out into the open, and are launching a campaign to get the government to crack down on excessive speculation by the banks.

Deborah Doane, director of the World Development Movement said:

“While the US is passing legislation in this area, the EU is well behind the curve. Because...

14 May 2010

David Cameron has announced today that his government will be the 'greenest government' ever. We welcome the sentiment but we are sceptical and said that ‘history will judge this government on its green credentials by its policies to cut the UK’s emissions dramatically and getting a fair international climate deal, not by turning off its lights at night.’

Deborah Doane, director of the World Development Movement said:

"The Conservative/Liberal Democrat coalition has brought some progress for achieving climate justice. Whilst it's welcome that central government has pledged to cut its emissions by 10 per cent, history will judge this government on its green credentials by its policies to cut the UK’s emissions dramatically and getting a fair international climate deal, not by turning off its lights at night. It doesn't take the scale of the problem seriously, any suggestion that blue and yellow means green government are premature because there are so many unanswered questions about the policies.

"The Conservative/Liberal Democrat coalition has brought some campaign successes for climate justice. But it has also left a lot of unanswered questions, and media reports suggesting that...

A politically embarrassing stand off is developing as Bangladesh is currently resisting the UK's offer of £60 million of climate finance.

Bangladesh is believed to be resisting the UK's climate finance offer of £60 million due to the UK's insistence that it must be channelled through the World Bank. The UK is pressurising the Bangladeshi government into accepting the finance whilst refusing to consider other managers of the funds, such as through a Bangladeshi fund, which has greater transparency and participation by civil society.

Campaigners from the European Action Group on Climate Change Bangladesh, the World Development Movement and Jubilee Debt Campaign, this morning held a protest outside the Department for International Development on Monday to tell DfID not to force the World Bank on to Bangladesh. At the same time, campaigners in Dhaka in Bangladesh held a mass rally and formed a human chain around the donor conference where the UK has imposed a deadline on the Bangladeshi government to accept their conditions.

The UK is further insisting that the Bangladeshi government provides its own money for the fund, likely to drive the country further into debt. Later in the year, the UK will be giving further money to Bangladesh through the World Bank to...

Bankers resisting plans to cut bonuses and reform the sector at the World Economic Forum have inspired anti-poverty campaigners to renew demands for a financial transaction tax to reduce global inequality.

The World Development Movement, one of the organisations backing the tax, says the additional revenue could finance a ‘green new deal’ in rich nations while providing money for poorer countries to develop low carbon economies and cope with the impact of climate change. The tax would also increase financial stability and dampen the risks of sudden food and oil price rises by deterring reckless speculation on debt, equity and commodity markets.

Julian Oram, head of policy at the World Development Movement said:
"The financial sector has grown way too big for its boots, to the extent that the whole global economy is vulnerable to the fortunes of bankers gambling on the markets.

“It's absurd for bankers to be up in arms about regulation given the damage they’ve caused, but it's encouraging us to campaign harder. This is an industry that generates $50 trillion worth of transactions a year. Taxing just a tiny fraction of this would slow down the financial roulette wheel and generate billions of dollars in public revenue that could be of huge benefit to...

The UK based, anti poverty campaigners, the World Development Movement branded the Copenhagen talks as a ‘shameful and monumental failure.’ 
 
Tim Jones, climate policy officer at the World Development Movement said:
 “This summit has been in complete disarray from start to finish, culminating in a shameful and monumental failure that has condemned millions of people around the world to untold suffering. The leaders of rich countries have refused to lead. They have been captured by business interests at a time when people need leaders to put justice first."

“Rich countries have failed the poorest people in the world and history will judge them harshly. They have failed to offer the emissions cuts that science and justice requires. To say that this ‘deal’ is in any way historic or meaningful is to completely misrepresent the fact that this ‘deal’ is meaningless."

President Obama has presented a ‘deal’ in the form of a Copenhagen Accord. However, it was drafted with participation from just a small number of countries, the majority of them rich. Several developing countries have refused to sign, and it has not been adopted as a UN agreement.

"Countries have been right to resist the signing of the Accord. It would be better to...

The issue of climate finance is a Copenhagen deal breaker for developing countries, and much has been made by Gordon Brown and yesterday, Hillary Clinton, on the need for climate finance.

Both have put forward figures to 'help' developing countries cope with the impact of climate change. But the World Development Movement’s analysis shows that the facts behind the figures add ‘insult to injury' for developing countries. Of the $100 billion 'announced' yesterday by Hillary Clinton, half or more would be financed by carbon trading and developing countries.

Tim Jones, climate policy expert at the World Development Movement said:

“The small print behind the head line grabbing figures adds insult to injury for developing countries. Money that is being announced here is diverted from existing aid budgets; given as loans not aid; and is being financed through a flaw ridden offset scheme. What we need to see is developed countries admitting their historic responsibility for the problem that has brought us all here and offer compensation to developing countries, not bribery, bullying and belligerence.”

The World Development Movement’s analysis reveals that:

Short term finance (2010-2012)

The EU and US are calling for $...

In Copenhagen on Wednesday thousands of protestors marched to the Bella Centre where the climate change negotiations are taking place. At the same time, hundreds of delegates walked out to meet them to create a 'People's Assembly' to discuss positive solutions to climate change. The protestors were met with violence from the Danish police.

World Development Movement policy officer Tim Jones commented from within the Bella Centre:

“Today thousands of people sought to create a people’s assembly to get voices heard offering real solutions to the climate crisis. The people’s assembly was stopped by police who committed unprovoked violence on both protestors and official delegates to the UN negotiations. This is a moment in history where the right to protest is of vital importance. The threat that we are facing from climate change is overwhelming.”
 
At the same time as the protests, the Danish government was seeking to push an unjust and ineffective agreement on developing countries, outside of the transparent process. The reintroduction of a so-called ‘Danish text’ would override all the official negotiations, kill the Kyoto protocol and release rich countries from their...

In response to Ed Miliband's energy statement to parliament today, the World Development Movement reacted with disappointment and argued that the UK's credibility at Copenhagen has been 'shattered'.

Deborah Doane, director of the World Development Movement said:
"Ed Miliband today has shattered the UK's credibility at the Copenhagen summit by going ahead with disastrous plans for new coal. His decision to allow two new dirty coal power stations to be built will see increasing emissions long into the future. He has acknowledged that carbon capture technology may not work, but nonetheless hasn't introduced a safety net to protect the climate if this unproven technology fails.

"Furthermore, he's done nothing to shut down old coal plants which can continue to pollute for decades to come. This policy flies in the face of recommendations from the government's own climate advisors.

"This will continue to increase our climate debt to the world's poorest people. And in turn, this will lock in greater inequality and injustice faced by people, like those in the Philippines or El Salvador who are currently suffering from climate-change related weather disasters, such as flooding and typhoons."

The UK government comes under fire today in a new report which reveals that the current climate finance proposals, likely to dominate the weekend’s G20 talks, are likely to increase third world debt, and will be 'grossly inadequate' to tackle the scale of the problem.

The report by anti-poverty groups the World Development Movement and Jubilee Debt Campaign calculates that the UK alone owes a 'climate debt' to developing countries of over £17 billion each year for its contribution to climate change – an amount that is significantly more than that pledged so far.

They issued a stark warning that the issue of climate debt will be a 'Copenhagen deal-breaker' for developing countries, and the hope of getting a fair deal hangs in the balance.

The report, 'The Climate Debt Crisis', heavily criticises the UK's current policy of channelling its 'climate aid' through the World Bank, and of promoting the World Bank as the main hub of climate finance. It condemns the World Bank for distributing climate finance as loans, not aid, and for allowing finance to be used for new coal power stations, not low carbon energy investment. The campaigners are...

Today, an unprecedented legal battle will take place in the High Court over the Treasury's failure to stop the publicly owned Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) investing in what campaigners describe as 'some of the most environmentally damaging and socially irresponsible projects and companies around.'

The case is being brought by three small climate and social justice campaigning groups: PLATFORM, People & Planet and the World Development Movement, which has led some commentators to bill it as a 'ground breaking, David and Goliath case'.

Today's oral hearing will determine whether their claim can proceed to a full substantive hearing, likely to take place early next year. The Treasury has hired one of its top barristers, James Eadie QC, to handle the case but the campaigners are optimistic that they will be successfu Deborah Doane, director of the World Development Movement said:

"This is a classic David and Goliath battle. But we believe we have a strong case. The Treasury's decision to allow RBS to continue to invest in companies that exacerbate climate change and are linked to human rights abuses is unlawful, immoral and undemocratic. Hopefully, this case will be a pivotal point in ending RBS' destructive lending habits that go against the interests of UK...

Late last night, EON confirmed that they had shelved plans for the controversial Kingsnorth coal plant in Kent. The news of the victory for the 'Stop Kingsnorth' campaigners was received by text at a coal event in Rochester hosted jointly by the World Development Movement and the local campaigning group, Kingsnorth Climate Action Medway, who have been working closely for nearly two years.

Kirsty Wright, climate campaigner at the World Development Movement said:"This is an huge victory for campaigners in Kent, across the UK and most of all for the world’s poorest people, whose lives would have been devastated by the proposed power station’s contribution to climate change. The new power station would have emitted more CO2than Tanzania, and could have caused 20,000 climate refugees and meant that 100, 000 more people losing their dry water season supply.

"It's not yet clear what the government's official reaction to this news will be, but UK's already massive climate debt to the developing world means that the UK must radically reduce its carbon emissions now. The UK government must rule out new coal in the UK straight away, ahead of crucial international talks at Copenhagen. We can’t rely on energy companies to do it because of concern about profits in the...

The World Development Movement welcomes progress made on renewable targets but fears that the reliance on carbon trading to reduce emissions is a 'dangerous get-out-of-jail-free card'.

Deborah Doane, director of the World Development Movement said:
"The commitment to generate 30 per cent of electricity from renewable sources and to reduce emissions in the UK power sector is welcome. But the politics is still lagging behind the science as this target doesn't come close enough to what is needed to prevent dangerous climate change.

"Worryingly the government has said it can use carbon offsetting to meet targets if we fail to cut emissions. This is a dangerous get-out-of-jail-free card which could be disastrous for the climate and for the world's poorest people. The government has to be completely committed to reducing our emissions here in the UK, not pass the buck onto developing countries.

"Ed Miliband's own department has previously acknowledged that we don't need new coal power stations to keep the lights on. So it's contradictory to see his continued claims that we need to build new coal power stations."

ENDS

For more information, please all Kate Blagojevic on 020 7820 4900 / 07711 875 345

Notes to editors
The...

Today, the World Development Movement condemns the G8 as an illegitimate institution that is making decisions on measures to tackle the climate and financial crises that will have disastrous effects on the world’s poor.

Deborah Doane, director of the World Development Movement said:

"The G8 has no legitimacy, but it is making decisions on climate change and trade that will have disastrous effects on the world’s poorest people. This injustice is palpable and the G8 should be left for dead.”

Commenting on the announcement that the WTO deal will be completed next year, Deborah Doane said:

"The global economic crisis will not be fixed by more free trade sealed in a rushed deal at the WTO. The G8’s aim to avoid protectionism through a new WTO round is little more than a smokescreen to protect big business in G8 countries, at the expense of poor people. If our analysis of the financial crisis taught us anything, it’s that over-reliance on free market ideals harms labour, development and environmental standards around the world. Unfair free trade deals aren’t the answer: they are part of the problem.

Commenting on the measures to tackle climate change, Deborah Doane said:

"G8 countries emit 40%...

The World Development Movement, PLATFORM and People & Planet have today launched legal action against the Treasury for allowing public money, poured into the Royal Bank of Scotland to be invested in energy companies, and projects linked to climate change and human rights violations.

Since RBS was bailed out in October 2008, it has contributed to loans worth an estimated £10 billion in coal, oil and gas companies. Coal is the biggest source of carbon emissions globally, which contributes to dangerous climate change. The campaigners believe that by investing in RBS, the Treasury is in direct conflict with the government's legislation and policies to reduce carbon emissions and prevent dangerous climate change.

Julian Oram, from the World Development Movement said:

"The government has spent billions on a bank with a track record of financing energy companies' dirty and destructive projects. We're launching this action because the Treasury has displayed a blatant disregard to the government’s own commitments to tackling climate change, and its rules for spending public money. The taxpayers’ interests would be vastly better served by RBS investing in a low carbon future than in undemocratic regimes and environmentally devastating projects...

The World Development Movement is disappointed that a UN summit set up to discuss ‘profound reform’ of the global economic system has delivered ‘more of the same' because some rich countries rubbished more progressive ideas.

The World Development Movement's policy officer, Vicky Cann said:

"The upshot of this summit is that it has delivered more of the same. But the same isn't good enough. Rich countries including the UK have rubbished some of the progressive ideas put forward by leading experts before this conference, which could genuinely have delivered profound reform of the economic system. As a result, such proposals are nowhere to be seen. This simply demonstrates again rich countries’ determination to maintain the political and economic status quo.

"Most concerning is the summit's faith that free trade will deliver a route out of the crisis, when the evidence shows that free trade and deregulated markets have been one of the most important causes of the current crisis.

"The proposals for reform of the IMF, World Bank and WTO are too weak. These institutions reinforce the elitist, outdated power relations between rich and poor countries and their policy prescriptions over the past twenty years have proved disastrous for...

The World Development Movement today expressed its huge disappointment that the European Union has proceeded with signing a trade deal with Botswana, Lesotho and Swaziland.

Vicky Cann, trade policy officer says: “Trade deals like this one between Europe and Botswana, Lesotho and Swaziland open African markets up to European multinational companies before they are fully able to compete on equal terms. Such unfair deals threaten local jobs and labour standards. They also disrupt the regional trade in southern Africa, something to which the European Commission seems oblivious”.

South Africa, Angola and Namibia have all chosen not to sign this deal, as it currently stands, in a negotiation process that has been wracked with controversy. Namibia’s trade and industry minister Hage Geingob has said, "We might be small, but we are still a sovereign state. You cannot smoke cigars in boardrooms in Brussels and bulldoze us."

In a 2008 report which looked at the existing Europe-South Africa free trade deal signed in 1999, the World Development Movement documented the resulting reductions in tariffs on EU products which had led to an increase in imports from the EU and a negative impact on South Africa’s current account balance. The food processing,...

In response to the current crisis of confidence in our parliamentary system, the World Development Movement has joined with artists, activists and politicians in signing an open letter published in the Observer, calling for a referendum on proportional representation on the same day as the next general election.

Our society faces real problems; including mass unemployment, growing poverty and the threat of climate chaos. These challenges require effective government working on behalf of the popular will. A new electoral system that makes everyone's vote count could be crucial to maintaining public faith and engagement in our political system.

WDM believes a referendum on this issue could help restore trust between voters and Parliament that has been badly damaged by the MP expenses scandal. Just as radical action is needed to fix a broken economic system, we believe that the time has come for a debate by the British public on whether democratic reform to our political system is needed to address the unprecedented challenges faced by our society.

For more information, please call Kate Blagojevic on 020 7820 4900

Kate Blagojevic
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The campaigning community are mourning the loss of Murray Benham who was WDM’s Head of Campaigns and Networks until April 2009, and passed away suddenly and tragically last week from a massive stroke. 

Murray was a classic campaigner: outspoken, fearless, brave, and bright. He was in the great and proud tradition of working class men whose inherent sense of injustice leads them to dedicate their lives to the collective not the individual. He believed strongly that socialism was the best model to bring about equality, and was more than happy to bend your ear about this for hours over a pint. On top of being an enormously passionate advocate for social justice, Murray had also worked extensively in Media & Communications in his working life. 

Having joined WDM in 2005 on a short term contract, he quickly found his ideals were well matched to our work and ended up staying for 4 years. During this time he oversaw the adaptation of our campaigns due to changes in media, social organising, and world leaders He also diversified the way WDM communicates with our supporters and the wider public by introducing the idea of cutting back on ‘development / policy’ speak, and using 10 words to describe something rather than our usual...

Alistair Darling's budget reveals the government's 'contradictory' green credentials, according to the World Development Movement.

Julian Oram, head of policy at the World Development Movement said: "The government is allocating £525 million for offshore wind but is providing tax cuts to big business to extract 2 billion barrels of' oil and gas. Tackling climate change requires keeping fossil fuels in the ground, not extracting every drop we can. This reveals the contradictory nature of the government's green credentials.

"Darling has announced money for two to four demonstration projects in coal power carbon capture and storage. Relying on this technology is a big gamble. By the time we know if it works, millions of pounds will have been squandered and it may be too late to prevent dangerous climate change.

"These demonstration projects cannot be tagged-on to dirty coal power stations where most of the emissions will continue to warm the world for generations to come. And carbon capture and storage will be pointless if it is used to extract more oil from the North Sea."

"A credible green budget required the Chancellor to commit at least two per cent of national GDP to invest in renewable energy generation, infrastructure, warm homes,...

Minutes ago, the World Development Movement learnt that its accreditation, as part of the Put People First alliance, to enter the G20 summit has been revoked. The reason is unclear but a member of the accreditation team told the World Development Movement that the decision came after the Foreign and Commonwealth Office had received a note from 'Number 10' to decline the organisation's director, Benedict Southworth's accreditation.

Benedict Southworth, director of the World Development Movement said:

"I am outraged that we have apparently been banned at last minute from attending the G20 summit. We hope it's not what it appears to be – an attempt to stage manage events and prevent voices of dissent and disagreement from being heard.

"The only other government in the world that has banned the World Development Movement from attending a global summit is the Singapore government which has a track record of stifling voices of opposition. A ban that was subsequently overturned after protests from around the world.

"On Saturday, I was part of the Put People First delegation that met with Ed Miliband, Gareth Thomas and Steven Simms at 'Number 11'. On behalf of my members and the people who we work with around the world, I will be demanding to...

Today, the World Development Movement warns that Gordon Brown's proposals at the G20 to salvage the global economy could be wrecked by contradictions between his tough talk on re-regulating the banking sector and the UK’s continued push for banking liberalisation in developing countries through European free trade deals.

The new report, 'Taking the credit’, reveals the extent of the negative consequences of the financial services liberalisation pushed on developing countries through EU free trade deals. These deals would lift restrictions on how multinational banks, like Barclays, HSBC, Santander operate in developing countries. The World Development Movement’s evidence shows such deals would mean that poor people and small businesses lose out on access to credit and other banking services.

Benedict Southworth, director of the World Development Movement said:

"On the one hand, Gordon Brown has developed a mantra of tough talk on the re-regulation of banks. On the other, together with other European leaders, he is aggressively pushing free trade deals which demand that developing countries follow a deregulated and liberalised banking model. That model has clearly and spectacularly failed here and has also failed poor people in the developing...

The World Development Movement slammed a UK government plan to put almost £400 million of 'green' aid designed to assist developing countries low carbon development into a World Bank fund that will subsidise new dirty coal power plants.

The £400 million represents almost half of the UK’s Environmental Transformation Fund – Gordon Brown’s flagship £800 million fund to assist developing countries to deal with the impacts of climate change and develop low carbon economies.

Benedict Southworth, director of the World Development Movement said:

"This UK government money is supposedly specifically designed to help developing countries make the transition to low carbon economies. It's an absolute disgrace that it will actually be used for building new coal power stations. This money will actually contribute significantly to climate change, rather than do anything to prevent it. This is embarrassing for the UK government; but is incredibly worrying news for the world's poorest people who will be hit hardest by climate change. They expect the UK to play a leading role in the fight against climate change both at home and through its funding.

"Every pound of this 'green' aid that will be spent on funding coal power through the World Bank is money...

A huge new platform of unions, development agencies, faith and environmental groups plans to tell world leaders attending the G20 summit in April that only just, fair and sustainable policies can lead the world out of recession.

The alliance, which includes the TUC, Oxfam, ActionAid, Friends of the Earth and CAFOD, is calling on people to join a major demonstration for jobs, justice and climate in London on Saturday 28 March, five days before the summit.

Under the banner "Put People First – March for Jobs, Justice and Climate", the groups will demand decent jobs and public services for all, an end to global poverty and inequality, and a green economy.

The march will assemble on the Embankment en route to Hyde Park for a rally to be addressed by speakers and celebrities from the UK and around the world.

The organisations backing "Put People First" say: "Recession must not be an excuse for putting off action for global justice or to stop climate chaos. The only sustainable way to rebuild the global economy is to create a fair distribution of wealth that provides decent jobs and public services for all, ends global inequality and builds a low carbon future."

TUC General Secretary Brendan Barber said:
"People are angry at the...