Press releases

The Vatican is hosting a climate change conference today, which will bring together world leaders, climate experts and religious representatives. Winnie Byanyima, Oxfam International Executive Director, said, “The way the world responds to climate change is a litmus test of our humanity.

The 150 countries that have now publicly committed to carbon reduction pledges show that December’s UN climate summit in Paris could, at last, be built on international cooperation rather than competition. 

National self-interest and brinkmanship must not be allowed to sabotage the Cancun climate talks and risk reversing the progress made over the past two weeks, warned Oxfam on the penultimate day of the increasingly volatile Summit.

Europe is putting a global climate deal at risk and threatening the lives of millions of the world’s poorest, said development agency Oxfam International, as Environment Ministers met today to hammer out Europe’s position for a post-2012 global deal.

Tuesday’s climate summit in Paris must boost the financial support going to help poor communities adapt to climate change. The Paris Agreement promised rich governments would mobilize $100 billion per year by 2020, with a "balance" between funding for emission cuts and climate adaptation needs. However, the adaptation pledges have fallen short.

Hundreds of European cities, regions, businesses, youth and faith groups and civil society organisations are urging European leaders to take decisive action to respond to the climate emergency by profoundly altering the way we run our societies and economies to limit temperature rise to 1.5°C.

In a letter addressed to G8 finance ministers meeting in Lecce, Italy on 12 and 13 June, we're calling for an immediate injection of $2bn from rich countries to help the world's poorest countries get national climate adaptation strategies off the ground.

A new Oxfam report has today warned that at least 4.5 million children could die unless world leaders deliver additional funds to help poor countries fight the growing impact of climate change, rather than diverting it from existing aid promises.