Our goal

Reducing economic inequality requires a combination of policies to be successful. Politically we are working for the Government of Norway (GoN) to have reduced economic inequality as an overall goal for Norwegian ODA. We are working for global tax reforms which will make taxation of multinational companies and extreme individual wealth easier for development countries. In addition, we are working for an international debt workout mechanism to resolve the growing debt crisis. Reaching the SDGs and climate targets is impossible for countries in debt crisis.

NCA has been engaged in the UN Finance for Development process since the start in 2002 working on tax, aid and debt.

Who we work with

NCA works through broad coalitions collaborating with Eurodad, Afrodad, Tax Justice Network and the Global Coalition for Tax Justice as well as the ACT Alliance. We work together with Oxfam and others using the Commitment to reducing Inequality Index (CRI) in Southern and Eastern Africa.

In Norway we collaborate with TJN, Debt Justice Norway and the Norwegian Forum for Environment and Development among others. Changemaker remains a key partner on topics of economic justice.

Our partners are organised by Afrodad and TJN Africa as well in the regional Stop the Bleeding campaign.

History

NCA has a long history working on Economic Justice of which economic inequality is part. NCA was instrumental fighting for international and Norwegian debt cancellation during the Jubilee 2000 campaign from 1998-2006 and has continued to work for a debt workout mechanism and rules for responsible lending and borrowing ever since. NCA has also worked for fair trade rules and for the respect of human rights from businesses and investors. In 2010 NCA started working on tax in earnest focusing on transparency and championing Country by Country reporting rules. In advance of the Addis Abeba conference in 2015 NCA campaigned for a Global Tax Body under the UN which failed to get majority. Since then NCA has worked towards a tax convention in the UN arguing that such a convention will ensure equal representation for developing countries and must include unitary taxation as well as the ABC of taxation (Automatic Exchange of Information, Registries of Beneficial Ownership, Country by Country reporting.

Together with our partners NCA has worked against tax abuse by companies particularly in the mining sector. In 2012 NCA and partners started the Alternative Mining Indaba (AMI) which have grown to the biggest activist and CSO gathering on mining, tax, and environment on the continent. In our partner programs we still focus on company taxation, but increasingly on linking taxes to social protection.

In Norway

Reducing inequality, in particularly related to climate, is becoming more important for Norad with reducing inequality and poverty being treated as twin goals.

Norway and Norad has over the past two decades supported tax and has become the most important international donor on the topic for civil society, researchers and development banks. NCA together with TJN and members has encouraged and supported this initiative. Norway initiated the Mbeki-panel in 2015, co-chaired the FACTI-panel in 2020 and is seen as a tax champion on the issues internationally. With ongoing discussions on tax convention in the UN, the challenge is to keep it this way.

On debt Norway is progressive but is no longer in a leadership position having been a Northern pioneer until the end of the UNCTAD responsible lending and borrowing guidelines process in 2013. We are collaborating NCA and PS is working for the GoN to explore opportunities to champion solutions to the debt crisis in international fora. In this respect the 2025 Financing for Development conference is a key goal.

Globally

NCA has since 2018 collaborated with Oxfam and Development Finance International on their Commitment to Reducing Inequality Index (CRI). This is an important tool to highlight which policies reduce inequality and why and is used for programming and advocacy globally and in southern and eastern Africa through publishing the regional reports.

NCA is working to keep Norway a champion in global processes such as the FfD negotiations, on debt and tax issues in the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund. As a faith based organisation a key goal is to engage faith leaders and constituency on these topics and relevant arenas.

PS has the responsibility for global advocacy in NCA and collaborates with country offices when relevant and possible. PS regularly participates at the annual FfD-forum as well as the spring and annual World Bank and IMF meetings.

Results from 2022

• Published the report “A Nordic Intitative to Resolve the New Debt Crisis” at Annual Meetings. The report set the agenda for discussion solutions and for defining the growing debt problem. It kickstarted work on a CSO-led initiative Debt Service Watch creating a database of debt service vs spending for most countries.
• Agreement (resolution) in the UN to work on a tax convention
• Launch of the regional CRI- report in Southern- and Eastern Africa.

Our goal

Our goal is climate justice - when those responsible for the climate crisis takes their just part in solving the problem. Norway and other polluting nations need to respond to climate change in line with our fair share of meeting the Paris Agreement. This means drastically reducing emissions at home, while contributing with substantial financial support to vulnerable countries that are experiencing the worst effects. This is an obligation under the Paris Agreement.

According to a report commissioned by NCA, and written by Stockholm Environment Institute, Norway’s Fair Share of meeting the Paris Agreement is:

• Reducing at least 53 % of emissions domestically by 2030
• Contribute with 65 billion NOK a year between 2020 and 2030 in climate finance

This is based on the principal in the Paris Agreement of common but differentiated responsibilities. All nations are responsible of responding to the climate crisis, but our responsibilities are not the same. Based on our historical emissions and financial capacity, developed countries are obliged to take the lead.

Who we work with

Together with our partners all over the world in ACT Alliance, we participate in international processes like the UN climate negotiations, where we lobby delegates to advocate for climate justice.

In Norway we are closely linked to civil society and the broader climate movement. The churches in Norway are the most important partners in mobilizing people for climate action. Through the Lenten Campaign and other political campaigns, we mobilize our ecumenical network for a just world.

History

Climate Justice has been a longstanding goal of NCAs advocacy effort. We advocated for a fair and equitable Paris Agreement, together with our faith-based network all over the world. In Paris in 2015, 1.8 million signatures were handed over to the UN climate chief Christiana Figueres. Almost two million people around the world where NCA and ACT Alliance work, was demanding climate justice.

But the fight is not over. The Paris Agreement is a bottom-up agreement, that gives a lot of room for governments to identify national ambitions and responsibility in the global climate response. The need to continue the fight for climate ambition will be there for years to come.

In Norway

In Norway NCA has engaged in a long list of political processes for climate justice. The debate about national emissions targets, state budgets and the level of climate finance, advocating for the political parties to be more ambitious in their political platforms before national elections, and continuously challenging the government to implement and follow up their responsibilities under the Paris Agreement.

Results

Over many years NCA has been the main voice for increased climate finance in Norwegian civil society. We have managed to get a steadily increase in Norwegian climate finance the last 10 years. The biggest win was when the Støre government in 2021 promised to double the climate finance before 2026, from 7 to 14 billion NOK a year. As a part of this they would triple their adaptation finance. There is still a way to go for Norway to deliver its fair share of finance, being 65 billion NOK yearly.

In 2020, Norway decided to strengthen their 2030 climate target under the Paris Agreement from 40% to 55%. After years of advocating for at least 53 %, this was a big win for NCA. The NCA commissioned report “Norway’s Fair Share of Meeting the Paris Agreement” became an important reference point for politicians, the media, and the broader civil society in the push for a stronger target. After the press conference where the new target was launched, two ministers from the government separately thanked NCA for the advocacy push for a strong climate target.

In 2023, NCA together with the five other big humanitarian organizations in Norway, commissioned a report from an expert group that we put together, Klimafinansieringsutvalget. The goal was to find ways to mobilize climate finance without putting pressure on the development aid budget. One of the recommendations was a Norwegian green state guarantee, to increase investments in climate solutions in least developed countries. The government is suggesting this in the state budget for 2024.

Our goal

Currently the world lacks a truly global convention to stop tax abuse. We need to fill that gap with a legally binding UN Tax Convention negotiated by the UN members on an equal footing. This convention must include mechanisms to ensure that the taxes are paid where the value is created.

Who we work with

In 2023, Norwegian Church Aid initiated a new Community of Practice under ACT with the aim to strengthen the coordination for a UN Tax Convention in the international ecumenical network. Members of the CoP are diaconal organisations and church federations in Europe and Africa, but we are working to recruit members from all continents.

In Norway we are a part of a network of civil society organisations coordinating our efforts for a UN Tax Convention with monthly meetings.

 History

The work for a UN Tax Convention is a part of a much broader fight for for tax justice going way back, but the specific idea of a UN Tax Convention is relatively new. In The State of Tax Justice 2020 report from Tax Justice Network, the call for a separate convention was framed, perhaps for the first time, as a “UN Tax Convention”. The expert panel FACTI published its report in 2021 and concluded that a UN Tax Convention is needed. After this report, NCA stepped up the campaigning for such a convention.

In 2022, the 54 members of the African Group submitted a resolution on “Promotion of inclusive and effective tax cooperation at the United Nations”. The resolution was unanimously adopted. In July 2023, Latin American countries followed up and established the Regional Tax Cooperation Platform for Latin America and the Caribbean. In August 2023, as instructed by members states, the UN Secretary General published a tax report as the basis for further discussions during the UN General Assembly’s 78th session.  The negotiations for a UN Tax Convention have not started, but the momentum for it to happen is growing.

In Norway

To cooperate with, lobby, and if needed criticise the Norwegian government is an important part of NCA’s work on a UN Tax Convention. We also lobby parties and members of parliaments. Media outreach and campaigning is also an important part of the work.

Globally

An important part of NCA’s work for a UN Tax Convention is the cooperation with partners in several African countries and the global ecumenical network. Together we have organised events about a UN Tax Convention at Alternative Mining Indaba in Cape Town, the Luteran World Federation General Assembly, and at the World Council of Churches General Assembly, and we have organised several training sessions on the issue together.

In 2023 NCA attended the UN General Assembly campaigning for a UN Tax Convention – we organised lobby meetings, and distributed campaign materials together with partners and allies in the international network. We took part in the international civil society network aiming to keep the resolution text from the African group as strong as possible while negotiated at the UNGA.

Our goal

Our goal is that the Norwegian Government allocate at least 1 % of GNI to the aid budget annually, and in doing so uphold their own promises. This is not the time to lower our ambitions for humanitarian efforts and development aid.

Further, we work to ensure that the Government follows up on their commitments under the Paris Agreement and make sure the necessary increase in climate finance will be delivered in addition to the 1 % aid budget. Over the last few years there has been a growing global trend that climate finance eats into the aid budgets.

In addition, more than NOK 3.7 billion of the aid budget in Norway is spent on receiving refugees in Norway. This is an allocation that should not be taken from highly needed humanitarian efforts and development aid.

Who we work with

In Norway, we are a part of a network of the six largest humanitarian organizations in Norway, as well as topic-based cooperations with other organizations. Securing at least 1 % of GNI for the Norwegian aid budget annually, has been one of the focus areas for these cooperations over the last few years.

History

The 1 % of GNI to development aid is a symbolic goal with a long tradition in Norway. Over the past decade, the goal has been one of the main subjects of many budget negotiations between the parties in the Government and budget partners. The last ten years the approved aid budget has remained at around 1 % of GNI. In December 2016, the goal was also “formalized” in a historic agreement between the left and centre parties in the Parliament. The current Government also included the goal in their declaration.

Over the past years, there has been an increasing trend that other allocations, such as climate financing and allocations for receiving refugees in Norway have been taking a larger part of the aid budget. NCA and other organizations, continue to advocate that these allocations must be additional.

Results from 2022

In 2022, the Norwegian Government presented a budget proposal for 2023 where only 0,75 % of GNI were allocated for the aid budget. NCA, together with the network of other humanitarian NGOs advocated for an increase, and succeeded when the mid-term budget was passed in June 2023. The mid-term-budget included the Nansen programme with additional funding for Ukraine and for countries in the South affected by the war. However, in 2023 the government presented a budget proposal for 2024, not in line with their own promises. NCA are working for and hoping that the socialist left party (SV) will manage to negotiate the budget up to 1%. As many of you know, the Government does not hold the majority in Parliament and needs to seek support to pass the budget. NCA have handed in written inputs and will attend the parliamentarian hearings over the next few weeks. Further, we are currently inviting ourselves to meet with the political parties in parliament, together with other humanitarian NGOs, to influence the negotiations. The final budget will most likely be approved in December.