‘Climate finance’ commitments are woefully inadequate while inequalities in currency power force Global South countries to extract environmentally costly goods, and export them to the Global North. To end the outsourcing of emissions and remove the restrictions imposed on climate vulnerable countries, we need a new international monetary system.
As COP26 has drawn to a close, many have expressed bitter disappointment at the absence of any firm commitment from world leaders to end the extraction of fossil fuels. The UK was quick to pass the blame on to India and China for failing to commit to a coal phase-out. However, this fails to recognise that the international monetary system forces poorer countries to extract and export natural resources to fuel rich countries imports.
What is currency power?
Different currencies do not exert equal power. Rather than simply facilitating a web of international transactions, currencies themselves create and reproduce monetary hierarchies. This hierarchy can be imagined as a pyramid, with the most powerful currency, the dollar, at the top.
— source positivemoney.org | Nikki Eames | Dec 2, 2021