Workshop on “Climate Finance and Global Justice”
Prof. Yannis Dafermos (SOAS University of London)

Date: 9.10.2026
Time: 9:30 - 17:00
Location: Freie Universität Berlin Room 003 Boltzmannstr. 1, 14195 Berlin

I. Description:
This workshop will critically analyze the role of climate finance from a global justice lens. It will cover how climate finance initiatives often exacerbate global injustice and what the pillars of a global climate justice financial system could be. Certain case studies of climate finance injustices will be discussed, with particular attention to how policy tools for financing climate action in the Global South can be assessed. Areas for future research in this field will also be outlined

II. Participation requirements:
• Participation is only possible with prior registration. Please register by September 9, contacting carmen.marull@fu-berlin.de. Space is limited, so early registration is recommended.
• All participants are expected to read the mandatory reading.
• Participants presenting their PhD projects are required to upload their exposé (max. 15 pages) and a video-presentation (20 minutes long) by October 2.
• All materials are available here.

III. Mandatory reading:
Dafermos, Y. (2026). Climate finance and global justice, Climate Policy, 26 (1), 48-64.

IV. Detailed Workshop schedule

  9:30 – 10:15      Forms of climate injustice and the role of finance: conceptual issues and examples

10:15 – 10:45      Group discussion on climate injustice and finance

10:45 – 11:00      Coffee Break

11:00 – 12:00      Pillars of a globally climate just financial system

12:00 – 13:00      Lunch break

13:00 – 13:45      Presentation of three climate finance tools for the Global South: (i) debt-for-climate swaps, (ii) climate just central bank collateral frameworks, (iii) Climate Justice Facility

13:45 – 14:45      Group discussion on assessing these three climate finance tools

14:45 – 15:00      Coffee Break

15:00 – 17:00      Discussion of PhD Projects

V. Additional readings

• Beirne, J., Renzhi, N., & Volz, U. (2021). Feeling the heat: Climate risks and the cost of sovereign borrowing, International Review of Economics & Finance, 76, 920–936.
• Dafermos, Y. (2023). Climate change and central banking in least developed countries, Background paper commissioned by the UNCTAD secretariat for the Least Developed Countries Report 2023.
• Dafermos, Y., Gabor, D., & Michell, J. (2021). The Wall Street Consensus in pandemic times: What does it mean for climate-aligned development?, Canadian Journal of Development Studies, 42 (1–2), 238–251.
• Dafermos, Y., Gabor, D., Nikolaidi, M. and van Lerven, F. (2022). Greening collateral frameworks, The INSPIRE Sustainable Central Banking Toolbox, Policy Briefing Paper 7, SOAS Centre for Sustainable Finance; LSE Gratham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment.
• Fanning, A. L., & Hickel, J. (2023). Compensation for atmospheric appropriation, Nature Sustainability, 6 (9), 1077–1086.
• Fresnillo, I. (2020). A tale of two emergencies: The interplay of sovereign debt and climate crises in the global south, Eurodad, Briefing Paper.
• Friends of the Earth International. (2025). The Green Trap of Debt-For-Nature Swaps, Report.
• Gabor, D., & Sylla, N. S. (2023). Derisking Developmentalism: A Tale of Green Hydrogen, Development and Change, 54 (5), 1169–1196.
• Goeminne, G., & Paredis, E. (2010). The concept of ecological debt: Some steps towards an enriched sustainability paradigm, Environment, Development and Sustainability, 12 (5), 691–712.
• Latindadd. (2023). Debt-for-climate swaps: Can they be aligned with debt and climate justice?, Discussion document.
• Miranda, J. G., & Sauer, S. (2025). Green extractivism and the invention of 'carbon territories' in the Brazilian Amazon, Third World Quarterly, pp. 1–18 (advance online publication).
• Nedopil, C., & Sun, T. (2025). Current perspectives on debt-for-nature swaps: Moving from exploratory to empirical research, Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability, 74, 101538.
• Romm, J., Lezak, S., & Alshamsi, A. (2025). Are carbon offsets fixable?, Annual Review of Environment and Resources, 50, 649–680.
• Simeth, N. (2025). Debt-for-nature swaps: A case study of Gabon, Emerging Markets Review, 65, 101244.
• Voskoboynik, D. M., & Andreucci, D. (2022). Greening extractivism: Environmental discourses and resource governance in the 'Lithium Triangle', Environment and Planning E: Nature and Space, 5 (2), 787–809.