By Paulo Lima
Translation from Italian by Giorgia Zappa
Three decades after the Earth Summit in Rio and ten years after the Paris agreement, the new report Civil Society Equity Review 2025: Inequity, Inequality, Inaction send an unmistakable message: the international climate system is failing not due to a lack of technical solutions but due to deep-rooted historical injustices, extreme inequalities and a consolidated power in fossil fuel industries.
The document, signed by a vast coalition of organisations of the global civil society, describes a world still trapped in a colonial and extractivist logic, where the nations and the elites of the Northern Hemisphere keep on using oil and gas, failing to fulfil their commitments to the Southern Hemisphere. The report affirms that “The promises of a global cooperation have been completely disregarded, resulting in a crisis of trust and a paralysis of international cooperation”.
The new NDCs: too little, too late
The Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) analysis, submitted in anticipation of the COP30 in Belém, shows that the majority of the countries of the Northern Hemisphere remain “catastrophically below” their fair share of emissions reductions.
Even if some of the Southern Hemisphere nations have set more ambitious goals, their ability to act is burdened by debts and insufficient funding. The report warns that “Without a massive flow of public funds, not as loans but as subsidies, a fair transition will remain a mirage”.
The report is particularly harsh on the United States, the European Union, Japan and Australia, accused not only of not reducing their emissions but also of continuing to finance carbon-intensive fossil fuel infrastructure.
The Global South on the other hand “despite facing devastating climate impacts and, at the same time, having a minimal historical responsibility, is closer to meeting its fair share.” However, without a reformed financial system and a remission of the debts, many countries remain trapped in a cycle of dependence and vulnerability.
Internal inequality and elites’ responsibilities
A significant part of the document is dedicated to inter-national inequalities, considered as decisive as the one between the Northern and the Southern Hemisphere. The report identifies the global elites – the richest 5% of the world’s population – as the main responsible for the climate crisis and consequently for the political paralysis that goes with it.
According to the authors, wealthy classes have used their economical power to stall the redistribution policies, to oppose equal taxation and to maintain an economic model that favours profits instead of the collective survival.
The three necessary transformations
The Civil Society Equity Review 2025 has identified three pillars of change to break the current deadlock:
- Reform the multilateral governance, through the democratisation of global institutions, releasing them from the control of the fossil fuel multinational companies;
- Redefine economy, by shifting resources away from militarisation purposes and speculative finance towards a model based on equity, pace and human rights;
- Revolutionise climate finance through transforming the loan and debt system into a more stable flow of public funds and progressive global taxation mechanisms.
A petition from civil society to COP30
A year after COP29 in Baku ended in failure, which “left trust in ruins”, civil society looks up to COP30 in Belém as the last chance of “resetting the system on the basis of fairness”. The report asks young people to “choose people instead of profits” and to adapt to a new climate realism founded on justice, solidarity and authentic cooperation.
“At the end, it is not just about a matter of ambition, but of justice”, concludes the document.
“Only an equitable distribution will unlock the scale of action needed to ensure a livable future.”