Click here to review the report. 

Earthbeat, National Catholic Reporter quotes Eric LeCompte on the relationship between economic crises, high debt levels and debt relief and the climate crises. Read an excerpt below, or the full article here.

Forgive nations' debts in Jubilee Year, Pope Francis urges COP29 climate summit

By Doreen Ajiambo

With financing the major focus here at the United Nations climate change conference, Cardinal Pietro Parolin delivered directly to world leaders Pope Francis' appeal that wealthy nations use the upcoming 2025 Jubilee Year to forgive debts "as a matter of justice."

Eric LeCompte, executive director of Jubilee USA, a network of religious and development groups that advocates for international debt relief, told EarthBeat in an email that economic crises and high levels of unsustainable debt have prevented many developing countries from putting resources toward climate solutions.

"We have reached a point where debt relief has to be part of the solution in dealing with the climate crisis," he said.

Read more here.

The Religion News Service quotes Eric LeCompte on Jubilee 2025 and the previous Jubilee year, 2000. Read an excerpt below, or the full article here.

African faith leaders call for debt forgiveness in 2025 Jubilee year

By Fredrick Nzwili

The faith leaders point to the preceding Jubilee Year in 2000, when a coalition for debt forgiveness successfully freed $130 billion in debt relief in 38 countries and reduced poverty, they say.

“While we have moved forward critical debt relief and aid, we still need improvements in debt relief and aid processes,” said Eric LeCompte, executive director of the religious development organization Jubilee USA Network and a co-organizer of the convening of African leaders. “If we had the debt policies and institutions religious leaders called for 25 years ago, we would have tools to help address the climate and poverty crises.”

Those policies include improved access to permanent, rules-based processes that bind creditors into debt reductions and lower the costs of international crises such as the COVID-19 pandemic response to limit suffering in developing nations.  

Read more here. 

By Wycliff Kipsang

Faith leaders in Africa have become increasingly vocal as the continent faces the effects of multiple crises.

“We have allowed a divorce between traditional economic approaches and spiritual values,” Sheikh Ibrahim Lethome, of the Supreme Council of Kenya Muslims, said. 

“As faith leaders, we have a role in guiding our communities so they can make those connections," he added.

The faith leaders called for responsible lending and borrowing principles, debt contract clauses that share climate and other risks and additional sources of finance that do not create debt in order to prevent new high indebtedness cycles.

“While we have moved forward critical debt relief and aid, we still need improvements in debt relief and aid processes,” Eric LeCompte, executive director of the religious development organisation Jubilee USA Network and a co-organiser of the convening of African leaders, said. 

Jena is a diverse community of faith-inspired Jesuit NGOs working towards an Africa where people can unlock their full potential, free from direct, cultural and structural violence.

Read more here.

Axios quotes Eric LeCompte on the New York Taxpayer and International Debt Crises Protection Act (S4747, A2970). Read an excerpt below and click here for the full article.

Ambitious N.Y. bill takes aim at global debt woes

By Kate Marino

A bill quietly making its way through the New York state legislature could upend the world of sovereign debt investing.

Why it matters: There’s a debt crisis brewing among lower-income nations, and creditor gridlock is prolonging the pain for countries like Zambia and Sri Lanka that need to restructure their unsustainable debt loads.

Enter New York: About half of sovereign bonds are governed by New York law — so Albany (the capital of New York state) wields outsize influence on the global lending landscape.

• A group of state legislators has proposed a short bill with tall ambitions — but critics charge there’s a host of unintended consequences that'll make things worse for those the bill is meant to help.

Read here for more.

African religious leaders called for resolving debt crises to deal with climate, health, food and energy crises facing the continent. The 26 religious leaders from 12 countries represent Catholic, Anglican, Presbyterian and other Christian denominations, the All Africa Council of Churches, Muslim, and indigenous faiths.

Ahead of the upcoming G20 and African Climate summits, the leaders met and issued a joint statement, calling for debt relief and changes to the financial system to address growing crises. Caritas Africa and the Jesuit Justice and Ecology Network Africa hosted the meeting in Nairobi on August 7-8, 2023.

Read the statement here.

Read the press release on the statement here.

Bloomberg quotes Eric LeCompte on the NY Bills that aim to limit the amount private creditors can recover in sovereign debt restructurings. Read an excerpt below, and click here for the full article.

New York Bills That Cap Key EM Debt Payouts Rile Pimco, Fidelity

By Zijia Song and Ezra Fieser 

Major investors from Pacific Investment Management Co. to Fidelity Investments are pushing back against New York bills that stand to limit the amount private creditors can recover in sovereign debt restructurings.

The legislation — comprised of proposals in both the state senate and assembly — would force investors in defaulted sovereign bonds to accept comparable losses to governments and other public creditors during restructurings. If passed, the new rules would apply to debt governed by New York law, which makes up about half of all emerging-market bonds.

While similar proposals have failed to gain traction in the past, momentum is building behind the new legislation and stoking concern among some of the world’s biggest asset managers.

Read here for more. 

Download the ONE Campaign support memorandum for the New York Taxpayer and International Debt Crises Protection Act as a PDF here.

Download the ONE Campaign support memorandum for the New York Taxpayer and International Debt Crises Protection Act as a PDF here.

Presbyterian Mission Agency and partners reveal how debt relief addresses systemic injustices across the globe

‘Forgive us our debts’ from Puerto Rico and Sri Lanka to New York.

“Irresponsible borrowing decisions are felt on the backs of the people” Catherine Gordon, representative for international issues in the Office of Public Witness, said in Debt, Disaster and Corruption, the first in a series of global debt webinars co-sponsored by OPW, the Presbyterian Hunger Program and Presbyterian Disaster Assistance.

Read full article here.

As Covid-19 takes lives, impacts jobs, affects healthcare and drives a global economic crisis, we the undersigned urge the G20, the International Monetary Fund, its Members and Executive Directors to: