G7 Summit

Responding to news of the $4.5 billion pledge made by the G7 leaders to tackle global hunger, Max Lawson, Head of Inequality Policy at Oxfam said:

‘Faced with the worst hunger crisis in a generation, the G7 have simply failed to take the action that is needed. Many millions will face terrible hunger and starvation as a result.’

In response to the recent Amazon fires burning at a record rate and Macron's recent statement to block the EU trade agreement with Brazil at the G7 meeting, Katia Maia Oxfam Brazil Executive Director said we welcome Macron's warning to the Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro to take firm and immediate actions to save the Amazon forests, but warnings alone do not end fires. But the G7 countries, who are historically responsible for causing the climate crisis, have equal responsibility and must too take action.

The G7 must pursue windfall taxes on excess corporate profits including from those making huge returns from surging food and energy prices. The revenues can be used to fund an end to global hunger and to tackle climate change, says Oxfam.

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.
 

Responding to the UK Government’s announcement that G7 leaders will agree to new financing for infrastructure projects in developing countries and an increase international climate finance, Oxfam's climate change lead Nafkote Dabi said: "This plan could support green development in poorer countries, but it is lacking in detail including on who will foot the bill."

G7 leaders in Taormina fail to tackle famine or the challenges of migration. President Trump, more than anyone else, blocked agreement on many of these key concerns that affect millions of the world’s poorest people. 

G7 leaders meeting in Taormina, Sicily, this week should take the lead in fighting famine and immediately fund nearly half of the UN’s urgent appeal to avoid catastrophic hunger and more deaths.

According to data from the UN’s Financial Tracking System (the only official system for tracking donor funding) and information Oxfam received from G7 members: no G7 country has provided their fair share of funding for all four nations facing famine. 

47 economists and experts from across Japan, including Iwahito Katsui, renowned economist and professor emeritus at Tokyo University, have come together to urge the Japanese government to take a lead on tackling tax havens at the G7 Leaders Summit.