When debt makes climate change worse

An open-air class at a school in Mozambique. The country is among dozens of nations at the crossroads of two mounting global crises that are drawing the attention of world financial institutions: climate change and debt.
An open-air class at a school in Mozambique. The country is among dozens of nations at the crossroads of two mounting global crises that are drawing the attention of world financial institutions: climate change and debt. PHOTO: EPA-EFE
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How does a country deal with climate disasters when it is drowning in debt? Not very well, it turns out. Especially not when a global pandemic clobbers its economy.

Take Belize, Fiji and Mozambique. Vastly different countries, they are among dozens of nations at the crossroads of two mounting global crises that are drawing the attention of world financial institutions: climate change and debt.

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A version of this article appeared in the print edition of The Sunday Times on April 25, 2021, with the headline When debt makes climate change worse. Subscribe