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The world, and most of all, its poor people, desperately needs a fair and safe climate deal to be agreed at the UN talks in Copenhagen in December.

At least $18.5 trillion is hidden by wealthy individuals in tax havens worldwide, representing a loss of more than $156 billion in tax revenue, according to new figures published today by international agency Oxfam.

The proposed EU climate law is a good framework for EU climate action over the next decades, Oxfam says. The Commission, national governments and the European Parliament now must enact the law and take swift and decisive action to drastically reduce climate-heating emissions.

"The outcome of the Nairobi summit signals a renewed commitment to development effectiveness that is critical to ending poverty. Rich, donor countries must get behind this agenda, not undermine it, especially as our world faces huge, unprecedented humanitarian challenges," said Oxfam International's executive director, Winnie Byanyima. 

Today's digital tax proposal could help bring EU tax rules into the 21st century, by updating them to the digital economy. However, the European Commission's short-term proposal will not stop tax dodging by big tech firms, and could delay the much-needed global long-term solution. 

The European Union’s suggestion today of global public financing worth €22-€50 billion per year for developing countries to tackle climate change falls short of what is needed.

Reacting to the outcome of the Busan aid negotiations, Oxfam said donors had put off important decisions about how to improve aid.

As poor countries face the full impact of the economic crisis, European governments are falling short by nearly €40bn (USD$55m) on their aid promises and will not meet their 2010 aid target until 2012, a new report from CONCORD reveals.

If Europe were to rule out its support of biofuels by 2020, the region could lower its net imports of grain and oilseeds by up to 27 million tons, remarkably reducing its dependence on foreign goods. Global food prices could also drop significantly.

European leaders failed today to meet the expectations they had raised of cracking down on tax dodging at a summit in Brussels. In reaction, Catherine Olier, Oxfam’s EU Policy Adviser, said: