WCC news: WCC signs joint letter to G20 Leaders’ Summit urging economic, social, and climate justice

The World Council of Churches (WCC), World Communion of Reformed Churches, Lutheran World Federation, World Methodist Council, Council for World Mission, and United Society Partners in the Gospel—collectively representing 600 million Christians—in a letter to the 2025 G20 Leaders’ Summit, urged a New International Financial and Economic Architecture.  Photo: Georgina Goodwin/WCC 18 November 2025 “The world today is marked by unprecedented economic, social, and environmental crises,” reads the letter. “Economic inequality has reached levels that threaten social stability.” According to the Oxfam Report 2023, nearly two-thirds of all wealth created since 2020, a total of $42 trillion, went to the richest 1%.  “This is almost twice as much money as the other 99% of the world’s population,” reads the letter. “A specific yet interconnected marker of injustice is an increase of global public debt to over $100 trillion, highlighting a systemic imbalance in which financial burdens are increasingly overshadowing economic output.” Developing nations face mounting debt servicing costs that often exceed their expenditures on essential services, continues the letter.  “This escalating debt crisis reflects a broader injustice, where the financial architecture perpetuates inequality, underscoring the need for urgent systemic changes that prioritize human rights and equitable development over unsustainable fiscal policies,” reads the text. "Today, fiscal policies often prioritize debt-driven bailouts and tax incentives that predominantly benefit wealthy corporations and the affluent class.” Consequently, the political influence of the rich shapes policies, notes the letter.  “The same forces that keep nations in economic bondage are the architects of climate devastation,” reads the letter. “The wealth of the Global North was built on centuries of colonial extraction, fossil fuel exploitation, and ecological destruction.” This is climate colonialism, the letter notes. “The debt crisis and the climate crisis are not separate—they are two sides of the same imperial coin,” reads the text. “We urge you, the G 20 leaders, to make decisions towards justice for the 99% of the world’s population, and not for the benefit of the already super rich.” The letter includes specific demands for structural change, including establishing a United Nations Framework Convention on Sovereign Debt, imposing meaningful taxes, enforcing corporate accountability, and more.  Read the full letter Learn more about the New International Financial and Economic Architecture (NIFEA) See more

The World Council of Churches promotes Christian unity in faith, witness and service for a just and peaceful world. An ecumenical fellowship of churches founded in 1948, today the WCC brings together 356 Protestant, Orthodox, Anglican and other churches representing more than 580 million Christians in over 120 countries, and works cooperatively with the Roman Catholic Church. The WCC general secretary is Rev. Prof. Dr Jerry Pillay from the Uniting Presbyterian Church in Southern Africa. Media contact: +41 79 507 6363; www.oikoumene.org/press Our visiting address is: World Council of Churches Chemin du Pommier 42 Kyoto Building Le Grand-Saconnex CH-1218 Switzerland