Climate justice advocate Teresa Anderson has called for debt cancellation and the development of a new United Nations Framework on Sovereign Debt, warning that the climate crisis is pushing vulnerable countries into debt, with 93.5 percent of them already in or at risk of debt distress.

Anderson, who is the Global Lead on Climate Justice at ActionAid International, said the Global South is paying 225 times more in annual debt repayments, amounting to 8.8 trillion US dollars, than it receives in grant-based climate finance, which stands at 28 billion US dollars.

She was speaking during a virtual media science café ahead of COP31, organised by the Media for Environment, Science, Health and Agriculture (MESHA) in partnership with ActionAid International, following the release of ActionAid's latest report, Debt Fuels the Climate Crisis: How the Finance Flows.

"There is a need to push rich, polluting countries in the Global North to cancel debts and provide trillions in grant-based finance for adaptation, mitigation and loss and damage in the Global South," Anderson said.

She disclosed that climate-vulnerable countries are spending 25 times more on debt repayment than on climate action, with debt repayments accounting for 65 percent of their revenue.

"Action on debt could be one of the most impactful and achievable climate solutions available. The climate and debt crises are supercharging each other – it's a toxic relationship," Anderson said.

She added that climate leadership among wealthy countries should include debt cancellation, calling for momentum and pressure towards the 2027 United Nations General Assembly.

Meanwhile, MESHA Chief Executive Officer Aghan Daniel has urged the media to play a critical role in shaping the climate agenda.

"We are calling on journalists to understand and write more on climate change, financing and Africa's food systems and engage their governments to drive policy change," Daniel said.

More than 50 journalists from across Africa attended the café, which explored ActionAid's findings that external debt is at least 100 times greater than grant-based climate finance flowing to the Global South.