For Climate Justice in the Global South

1. Reaffirming IUSY’s commitment to social justice, democracy, international solidarity, and the dignity of peoples, and recognizing climate change as one of the greatest political, social, and economic challenges of our time;
2. Affirming that climate change is not only an environmental crisis, but a profound injustice that disproportionately affects the Global South, despite its minimal contribution to historical greenhouse gas emissions;
3. Deeply alarmed by the accelerating impacts of climate change across Africa, the Middle East, Latin America, Asia, and Small Island Developing States, including extreme heat, droughts, floods, desertification, food insecurity, water scarcity, public health crises, and forced displacement;
4. Recognizing that these impacts threaten peace, democratic stability, and social cohesion and act as a multiplier of inequality, conflict, and migration in already vulnerable societies;
5. Noting the outcomes of the most recent United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP30) and acknowledging efforts to strengthen adaptation, resilience, and international cooperation;
6. Stressing, however, that current global climate commitments and outcomes remain insufficient, unjust, and structurally imbalanced, placing a disproportionate burden on the Global South while allowing major historical emitters to delay meaningful responsibility;
7. Deeply concerned that climate finance commitments continue to fall far short of the real needs of developing countries, remain largely non-binding unpredictable, and are too often delivered in the form of loans that exacerbate debt and undermine sovereignty;
8. Alarmed by the absence of binding commitments on the rapid phase-out of fossil fuels, despite their central role in driving climate catastrophe, thereby exposing Global South communities to escalating and irreversible damage;
9. Recognizing that mechanisms addressing loss and damage, while long overdue, remain underfunded, inadequately operationalized, and disconnected from the principle of historical responsibility;
10. Affirming that climate action without justice, equity, and accountability cannot deliver real solutions, and that adaptation alone cannot compensate for continued inaction on emissions by the world’s largest polluters;
11. Emphasizing that youth, workers, rural communities, women, and indigenous peoples in the Global South are not passive victims of the climate crisis but key actors in building just, democratic, and sustainable alternatives;

Therefore, we resolve to:

12. Affirm climate justice as a central pillar of peace, democracy, and social justice, and reject any approach that treats the climate crisis as a technical or charitable issue rather than a political responsibility;
13. Demand binding and adequate climate finance for the Global South, prioritizing grants over loans, ensuring predictability, accessibility, and transparency, and placing adaptation and resilience at the center of international commitments;
14. Call for the full and urgent operationalization of loss and damage mechanisms, with substantial and regular contributions that reflect historical responsibility and respond to the real and immediate needs of affected communities;
15. Reject climate policies that deepen debt, dependency, or new forms of extraction, and call for reforms of the international financial architecture to free developing countries from choosing between climate survival and economic collapse;
16. Insist on a just transition that guarantees decent work, social protection, food sovereignty, energy access, and public services, while preventing the transfer of environmental costs to the Global South under the guise of green growth,
17. Demand accelerated and binding action to reduce emissions, including a rapid and equitable phase-out of fossil fuels, in line with scientific evidence and the principle of common but differentiated responsibilities;
18. Assert the central role of youth in climate governance, decision-making, and implementation, and support youth-led initiatives that strengthen community resilience and democratic participation;