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The worst flooding the Philippines has seen in decades highlights the urgent need for US leadership to push UN climate change negotiations in Bangkok forward to help ensure the best chance of securing a global climate treaty in Copenhagen.

Rulings by the General Court of the European Union today are a wake-up call for the EU to stop the destructive race to the bottom on taxation and reform the global architecture to create a fairer and more equitable system, says Oxfam.

In reaction to the coronavirus pandemic reaching 1 million confirmed cases, Oxfam interim Executive Director Chema Vera, said today: "This is a grim milestone that must spur the international community to take immediate action. We must tackle this pandemic with single-minded determination, and as one."

In response to Jeff Bezos’ space flight scheduled for Tuesday, Deepak Xavier, Oxfam International's Global Head of Inequality Campaign, said: "We’ve now reached stratospheric inequality. Billionaires burning into space, away from a world of pandemic, climate change and starvation. 11 people are likely now dying of hunger each minute while Bezos prepares for an 11-minute personal space flight. This is human folly, not human achievement."

Up to a quarter of a billion people are at risk of falling into extreme poverty this year due to the COVID-19 pandemic, climate crisis and the crisis in Ukraine. Global inequality threatens to rise massively unless more is done to effectively address this situation.  

The European Commission admits that wealth taxation is gaining “traction globally” as a tool to “ensure a fairer sharing of the tax burden across individuals”. This is according to the Commission’s new Annual Report on Taxation, which mentions the recent G20 discussions around taxing the super-rich and the European Citizens Initiative for a wealth tax.

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.

Today leaders from Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa –better known as the BRICS- finalized their 6th summit in Fortaleza, Brazil, consolidating the creation of a new development bank that will provide fresh sources of financing for emerging economies.

The energy investment decisions of the new $100bn Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank could signal a dramatic, positive new direction in the fight against global poverty and climate change.

Oxfam analyzes the commitments being brought by government and corporate sector leaders to the Climate Summit and reveals that they fall short of what is urgently needed.