Press releases

Following the recent eruption of Hunga-Tonga-Hunga-Ha'apai and the ensuing tsunami, Carlos Calderόn Oxfam Aotearoa Humanitarian Lead said: “We share the concern of our Tongan whanau here in Aotearoa, New Zealand, and our heart goes out to all those impacted by this event. We are monitoring the situation as closely as possible.”

Oxfam is working with local partners and coordinating with local governments in the Philippines to assess the damage and needs of affected communities following Super Typhoon Rolly's four landfalls yesterday and early this morning.

The chance of a successful Paris climate deal depends on rich countries showing they have kept their past commitments, especially the promise they made in Copenhagen to jointly mobilize $100bn of climate financing per year by 2020, warned Oxfam today.

In response to the United Nations Environment Program’s Adaptation Gap Report 2023, Nafkote Dabi, Oxfam International’s Climate Change Policy Lead, said: “The report underlines how the gap in adaptation funding —at its ‘highest ever’ amid accelerating climate breakdown— must be addressed with the utmost urgency next month in Dubai."

As the Earth Day Summit concluded, Oxfam applauded President Biden for convening world leaders in an effort to increase global climate ambition, lower emissions, and build resilience. However, more action is needed to avert dangerous climate change impacts that are already disproportionally harming those who are most vulnerable.

In its proposed new Renewable Energy Directive, the European Commission has given in to the pressure of the biofuel industry lobby at the expense of people and the climate. The proposal would allow EU countries to rely on food-based biofuels to meet their 2030 climate and energy targets, notwithstanding strong evidence of their harmful impact on communities and the environment.

Responding to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s Working Group I contribution to the Sixth Assessment Report, Oxfam Climate Policy Lead Nafkote Dabi said: “Amid a world in parts burning, in parts drowning and in parts starving, the IPCC today tables the most compelling wake-up call yet for global industry to switch from oil, gas and coal to renewables."

Oxfam leaders, experts, and partners are joining the UN 79th General Assembly, Summit of the Future, and Climate Action week in New York, hosting and attending events focused on UN Security Council Reform, gender, digital rights, inequality, climate action, and humanitarian issues. They will be urging global leaders to take bold decisions and action as they deliberate on the pressing issues of our time.

In response to the outcome of COP28, Oxfam International’s Climate Change Policy Lead Nafkote Dabi said:

“Everyone fighting against the global climate crisis has little to celebrate from this disappointing COP28. Its final outcome is grossly inadequate. Oil, coal and gas won again, but they had to struggle harder to do so and their era is nearing its end." 
 

The richest 10 percent of Europeans produced as much carbon pollution in 2019 as half of Europe’s poorest population, Oxfam reveals today. These findings, based on Oxfam’s new report “Climate Equality: A Planet for the 99%”, come ahead of the UN climate summit in Dubai and amid growing fears that the 1.5°C target for curtailing rising temperatures appears increasingly unachievable.