Advocating for Rights-Based Climate Investment Plans in Developing Nations to Realise a Just Transition

The document argues that current climate finance models, particularly the 'Billions to Trillions' (B2T) agenda, prioritise private profit and neoliberal de-risking over human rights and public goods. It proposes a Human Rights-Based Approach (HRBA) to climate finance, organised into six clusters: national responsibilities, obligations to others, national sovereignty, financial flow responsibilities, crisis management, and procedural fairness. The toolkit specifically critiques South Africa's JET-IP for its heavy reliance on loans over grants and its focus on infrastructure over social justice elements like skills development. It provides 'How-to' guides for advocating for climate-responsive budgeting, technological transfer reform, parliamentary oversight of IFI loans, and the establishment of a progressive sovereign debt workout mechanism based on UNCTAD principles.

• Global climate finance is severely insufficient; in 2021, the $1.3 trillion mobilised was only a fraction of the $8 trillion per year required to meet climate objectives.
• The 'Billions to Trillions' (B2T) agenda is criticised as a neoliberal approach that uses public funds to 'de-risk' private investment, effectively guaranteeing private profits by having the state absorb commercial, regulatory, and political risks.
• South Africa's Just Energy Transition - Investment Plan (JET-IP) is predominantly an infrastructure plan, with 89% of committed financing targeted at infrastructure and 81% directed toward the electricity sector, while 'justice' elements like skills development receive only 0.1%.
• The JET-IP in South Africa is heavily reliant on debt rather than grants; as of November 2023, loans made up 81% of the total financing outlay, while grants accounted for only 4%.
• Public Private Partnerships (PPPs) in the energy sector often use 'off balance sheet' structures and 'take or pay' clauses that transfer commercial and demand risks back to the state, contradicting the narrative that they transfer risk to the private sector.
• International trade agreements, specifically WTO rules like TRIPS, TRIMS, and GATT, act as barriers to technological development in developing countries by prohibiting the copying of patented innovations and restricting local content requirements.
• International Financial Institution (IFI) loan conditionalities, such as austerity measures and trade liberalisation, undermine national sovereignty and can harm the realisation of socio-economic rights.
• Current Debt Sustainability Assessments (DSAs) used by the IMF and World Bank prioritise debt service costs over human rights and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
• The sustainable bond market is prone to greenwashing and regulatory arbitrage because it is governed by voluntary, self-regulated private regimes rather than public regulations.
• The 'cap and share' model is proposed as a transformative alternative to mobilise finance by capping fossil fuel extraction and redistributing carbon charges as a global citizen's dividend.

APA

Institute for Economic Justice (2024). Advocating for Rights-Based Climate Investment Plans in Developing Nations to Realise a Just Transition. https://iej.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/Advocating-for-rights_Toolkit.pdf

Chicago

Institute for Economic Justice. Advocating for Rights-Based Climate Investment Plans in Developing Nations to Realise a Just Transition. 2024. https://iej.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/Advocating-for-rights_Toolkit.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Institute for Economic Justice |title=Advocating for Rights-Based Climate Investment Plans in Developing Nations to Realise a Just Transition |date=2024 |url=https://iej.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/Advocating-for-rights_Toolkit.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{instituteforeconomicjustice2024advocating, author = {{Institute for Economic Justice}}, title = {{Advocating for Rights-Based Climate Investment Plans in Developing Nations to Realise a Just Transition}}, institution = {Institute for Economic Justice}, year = {2024}, url = {https://iej.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/Advocating-for-rights_Toolkit.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }