Ahead of the Group of Seven summit, Oxfam took stock of the debt that rich countries would have incurred towards poor countries. She said the Group of Seven countries owed the South a huge $13 trillion debt.
The Group of Seven industrialized countries will hold a summit in Hiroshima, Japan, on Friday to discuss a number of issues on the international scene, the most important of which are Russia's war on Ukraine, "economic coercion" that China may exercise, in addition to military tensions in East Asia.
The unique calculation took into account what Oxfam said was an accumulation of unfulfilled pledges to offset losses caused by carbon dioxide emissions in the South.
In detailing this inventory of rich countries' debt, Oxfam explains that the Group of Seven countries have failed to fulfill their pledge to provide $100 billion annually until 2025 to help poor countries adapt to climate change.
Its carbon dioxide emissions would have caused losses of $8.7 trillion in low- and middle-income countries.
Oxfam called on the Group of Seven governments to cancel the debt of low- and middle-income countries and then return to 0.7% of GNI assistance, as well as meet their commitments to combat climate change.
Oxfam estimates that an additional $27.4 trillion is needed until 2030 to close funding gaps.
The Oxfam report ironically comes at a time when the Group of Seven countries and their wealthy bankers are demanding that southern countries pay $232 million a day to repay their debts until 2028.
So who is the creditor and who is the debtor?