The world is currently facing several mutually reinforcing crises: the intensifying climate crisis, setbacks in the fulfillment of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), rising inequality within and between countries worldwide and the worsening debt crisis in many countries of the Global South, among others.

These crises come up against a dysfunctional international financial system that acts as a crisis accelerator instead of contributing to their solutions. Investments in fossil fuels and infrastructure are continuing despite the climate crisis and the global Covid-19 crisis has once again highlighted the structural inequalities in the global financial architecture and the financial divide between North and South.

WEED has been working on the international financial system since its founding in 1990. For many years the debt crisis in countries of the Global South had been an important topic. The financial crisis of 2008, the development of shadow financial centers and tax evasion were also on the agenda for many years. All of these topics continue to accompany us - the focus of our work is currently on critically analyzing the policies of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

WEED is committed to a radical reform of the international financial architecture that promotes an ecologically sustainable, globally just and democratic world economic order. We do not work on these major issues alone, but in cooperation with others and in existing networks. At European level, WEED is a member of Eurodad und Finance Watch, for example. In Germany, we are represented in the coordination group of the German Tax Justice Network (Netzwerk Steuergerechtigkeit) and are a member in the council of erlassjahr.de the German jubilee network.

Our Demands

• Structural reforms in the way the IMF and World Bank work, including the democratization of their decision-making structures
• Stronger political regulation and limitation of financial markets as well as decisive action against shadow financial centers
• Shifting responsibility for cooperation in global tax policy from the OECD to the United Nations via a UN tax convention