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ActionAid

AAI

ActionAid is an international NGO that lobbies the EU to fight global poverty and injustice.

Lobbying Activity

Meeting with Jan Ceyssens (Cabinet of Commissioner Jessika Roswall) and Confederation of Danish Industry and

8 Dec 2025 · Address to the cleantech MFF roundtable: An EU Budget for a Stronger, Cleaner and More Sovereign Europe – Recommendations from Danish Investors, Business Community & Civil Society

Meeting with Cecilia Strada (Member of the European Parliament)

8 Dec 2025 · Exchange of views on the new proposal Global Europe, with a focus on the migration-related aspects

Meeting with Lukas Mandl (Member of the European Parliament, Rapporteur) and Save the Children Europe and

3 Nov 2025 · Interlinkage of development cooperation and migration

Meeting with Per Clausen (Member of the European Parliament)

14 Oct 2025 · omnibuspakken om bæredygtighedsregulering

Meeting with Cecilia Strada (Member of the European Parliament) and EuroMed Rights / EuroMed Droits

30 Sept 2025 · Exchange on the risk assessment and monitoring evaluation mechanism at EU level for reporting and following up human rights allegations in the context of EU-funded projects

Meeting with Jonas Sjöstedt (Member of the European Parliament)

23 Sept 2025 · Ukraine and Moldova

Meeting with Brando Benifei (Member of the European Parliament) and Confederazione Generale Italiana del Lavoro

17 Jul 2025 · Organisation of a future event on Omnibus package (CSRD and CSDDD) at the European Parliament

Meeting with Erica Gerretsen (Director Directorate-General for International Partnerships)

17 Jun 2025 · Discussion on the engagement with Civil Society (CS) in the context of Global Gateway initiatives and the future MFF.

Meeting with Villy Søvndal (Member of the European Parliament)

12 Jun 2025 · Debate with young activists from candidate countries

Meeting with Antti Karhunen (Director Directorate-General for International Partnerships) and OXFAM INTERNATIONAL EU ADVOCACY OFFICE and European Network on Debt and Development

11 Jun 2025 · Exchange of views on the Fourth International Conference on Financing for Development (FfD4)

Meeting with Marie Toussaint (Member of the European Parliament, Shadow rapporteur for opinion) and Reclaim Finance and

22 May 2025 · Omnibus I

Meeting with Valérie Hayer (Member of the European Parliament) and CIDSE - International Alliance of Catholic social justice organisations and

21 May 2025 · Omnibus Simplification

Meeting with Kira Marie Peter-Hansen (Member of the European Parliament, Shadow rapporteur) and Amnesty International Limited and

19 May 2025 · Sustainability omnibus

Meeting with Marit Maij (Member of the European Parliament) and OXFAM INTERNATIONAL EU ADVOCACY OFFICE and

14 May 2025 · Roundtable discussion on Financing for Development with MEP Charles Goerens and MEP Marit Maij

Meeting with Erik Marquardt (Member of the European Parliament)

10 Apr 2025 · Blended Finance/ PCD

Meeting with Riccardo Rossi (Cabinet of Commissioner Jozef Síkela) and CONCORD Europe and

7 Apr 2025 · Food security

Meeting with Marco Tarquinio (Member of the European Parliament)

27 Mar 2025 · Migration, Development cooperation

Meeting with Marit Maij (Member of the European Parliament)

26 Mar 2025 · Meeting with representatives from ActionAid

Meeting with Marit Maij (Member of the European Parliament)

18 Mar 2025 · Meeting with representative from ActionAid

Meeting with Marit Maij (Member of the European Parliament) and Human Rights Watch and

18 Feb 2025 · Roundtable discussion on Financing for Development

Meeting with Marit Maij (Member of the European Parliament)

18 Dec 2024 · Meeting with ActionAid

Meeting with Alice Kuhnke (Member of the European Parliament) and EuroMed Rights / EuroMed Droits

4 Dec 2024 · Climate-induced migration

Meeting with Tineke Strik (Member of the European Parliament) and EuroMed Rights / EuroMed Droits

4 Dec 2024 · EU external migration policy

Meeting with Marie Toussaint (Member of the European Parliament)

2 Dec 2024 · Due diligence

Meeting with Alice Kuhnke (Member of the European Parliament)

29 Nov 2024 · Climate-induced migration

Meeting with Alice Kuhnke (Member of the European Parliament)

29 Oct 2024 · Climate-induced migration

Meeting with Marit Maij (Member of the European Parliament)

21 Oct 2024 · Meeting with ActionAid

Meeting with Alice Kuhnke (Member of the European Parliament)

14 Oct 2024 · Climate-induced migration

Meeting with Nikolaj Villumsen (Member of the European Parliament)

4 Apr 2024 · EUs migrationspagt

Meeting with Nikolaj Villumsen (Member of the European Parliament)

19 Feb 2024 · Vidensuddeling om Migrationspagten

Meeting with Caroline Roose (Member of the European Parliament, Rapporteur)

8 Aug 2023 · Rapport Accès à l'énergie dans les pays en développement

Meeting with Caroline Roose (Member of the European Parliament)

25 Apr 2023 · Crise en Haïti

Response to New Agenda for Latin America and the Caribbean

9 Feb 2023

ActionAid considera de forma muy positiva que la Unión Europea y la comunidad Latinoamericana y Caribeña puedan relazar el dialogo político estancado desde 2015. El contexto actual para la ciudadanía de las dos regiones no ha mejorado desde entonces. Los problemas estructurales que generan pobreza y desigualdad se han visto reforzados con el impacto de la pandemia, la guerra en Ucrania y los efectos del cambio climático que son cada vez más patentes. América Latina continúa siendo la región más desigual del planeta. Región que ha basado su sistema económico en la extracción de recursos naturales que pone en riesgo la sostenibilidad del planeta. Pero también en un sistema de cuidados que ha recaído sobre las mujeres y de forma particular en las indígenas y afrodescendientes. ActionAid considera que las relaciones entre las dos regiones deben fundamentarse en: Marco de relaciones Equilibradas. Es necesario superar el marco tradicional de relaciones de carácter poscolonial norte-sur. Analizando críticamente los marcos actuales de relación en los ámbitos comerciales, deuda, los flujos financieros que exacerban en lugar de mejorar la equidad en la relación. Derechos humanos en el centro. El respeto y la promoción de los derechos humanos universales y regionales deben estar en el centro de la asociación estratégica UE-CELAC. La revisión de la relación debe contribuir a mejorar el acceso a derechos reduciendo la desigualdad y la pobreza. Coherencia de Políticas. Las relaciones birregionales deben de estar basadas en el principio de coherencia de políticas para el desarrollo sostenible y en el respeto de la autonomía de los pueblos; la UE debe implementar sus compromisos para asegurar que sus políticas internas y externas sean coherentes con sus objetivos de desarrollo y tengan como fin la erradicación de la pobreza. ActionAid comparte que ambas regiones tienen que avanzar en la transición para salir de la crisis actual, una que priorice la protección y promoción de los derechos humanos en general, de las mujeres en particular y la justicia climática. Esta transición debe ser al mismo tiempo: feminista al abordar los flagrantes desequilibrios de poder del género y otras formas de discriminación, como la clase, etnia, identidad de género, orientación sexual, nacionalidad, condición migratoria u otras; justa para garantizar que nadie se quede atrás y que no se generen nuevas formas de exclusión e injusticia; sostenible al proporcionar un camino hacia un equilibrio sostenible de nuestras necesidades actuales con las de las generaciones futuras y otras formas de vida que nos rodean.
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Meeting with Caroline Roose (Member of the European Parliament)

23 Jan 2023 · Humanitaire et politiques de développement (assistant·e·s)

Meeting with Jutta Urpilainen (Commissioner) and OXFAM INTERNATIONAL EU ADVOCACY OFFICE and

1 Dec 2022 · Speech at the 2nd GAP III Structured Dialogue with CSOs

Meeting with Frans Timmermans (Executive Vice-President) and Climate Action Network Europe and

15 Nov 2022 · Progress of COP27 negotiations

ActionAid calls for 25% minimum corporate tax across EU

31 Mar 2021
Topic — EU Commission's vision for reforming business taxation for the modern economy.
Message — ActionAid requests a minimum 25% corporate tax rate without exemptions, introduction of CCCTB for unitary taxation, and public country-by-country reporting. They emphasize integrating tax reforms with gender-responsive services and green transition policies.123
Why — This would raise more revenue for gender-responsive public services and minimize corporate tax avoidance.45
Impact — Multinational corporations lose tax avoidance opportunities and face higher effective tax rates.67
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ActionAid calls for progressive digital levy protecting developing countries

11 Feb 2021
Topic — EU proposal for a Council Directive on taxing digital economy revenues.
Message — ActionAid requests a progressive corporate income tax top-up based on formulary apportionment that considers customer, staff and asset locations. They want protections for smaller businesses from developing countries and measures preventing companies from passing costs to consumers. They call for impact assessments on social and gender equality and spillover analysis on developing countries.1234
Why — This would increase tax revenues for developing countries to fund public services and debt relief.56
Impact — Consumers on lower incomes could face higher costs if companies pass tax burdens forward.78
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Response to Strengthening the EU’s contribution to rules-based and effective multilateralism

18 Jan 2021

ActionAid welcomes the intention to strengthen EU’s contribution to rules-based multilateralism, with human rights at the core. The Context description in the Roadmap refers to the power of some non-state actors to shape international norms, but this does not appear in the problems that the initiative will seek to solve. Existing rules at national and global level, or the lack thereof, incentivised the emergence of too large and powerful corporate actors, that dwarf governments and dominate entire sectors of the economy. This trend can also be seen in multilateral inter-governmental fora, as exemplified by the partnership between the World Economic Forum and the United Nations, or the upcoming World Food Systems Summit, whose agenda and ways of working prioritise large corporates’ interest over citizens, smallscale farmers and consumers. We expect the EU to make proposals to address that major challenge in its forthcoming Communication. The Roadmap indicates that the EU will pursue its multilateral agenda through a multi-stakeholder approach. It lists very diverse categories of actors, as if they were all equal in power and legitimacy. That is not the case. Some companies are responsible for the most egregious human rights abuses, others largely contributed to the climate crisis. We need exclusion criteria and rules on conflict of interest (similar to the WHO’s rules regarding the tobacco industry). As long as companies with a vested interest in the status quo have the space to influence decision-making processes on issues such as climate change and international trade, action urgently needed to achieve the SDGs and the Paris Agreement will be hampered. The Communication should propose exclusion criteria and strong conflict of interest rules. Multistakeholders’ approaches can only produce meaningful outcome if mechanisms are in place to address power imbalances between stakeholders, and if purported efforts are made to bring on board the voices that are marginalised and ignored, such as people living in poverty, indigenous and traditional people, women and young people in their diversity. Otherwise, multistakeholder approaches entrench power for the powerful and wealthy, while diluting accountability. Governments need to remain at the center of multilateral decision-making bodies, and be accountable for decisions made. Another missing element is the growing restrictions on civil society’s participation in multilateral spaces, in parallel to corporates’ growing influence. The Communication should imperatively champion the role of independent civil society organisations, as opposed to other actors who don’t need such determined support, and whose participation is neither at risk, nor followed by retaliation. Most multilateral institutions are dominated by early-industrialised countries, which perpetuates an unjust international order. Developing countries are excluded from the G20 and the OECD – which are making decisions on debt relief, global tax rules and financial regulation, that impacts them. The IMF and the World Bank are making decisions that jeopardise the possibility for low-income countries to realise the SDGs and meet their human rights and climate commitments. It is time for the EU to enter the post-colonial world – assert its interest in multilateral bodies, but also contribute to build a more equal, fair and inclusive multilateral system. Some areas where we see particularly urgent need and opportunity for EU leadership in the reform of multilateral processes include the establishment of a fair and transparent UN debt workout mechanism, an adequate financing facility for climate loss and damage, and a UN tax body. In parallel, it is important for the EU to set the pace in all of these areas through European commitments that go beyond what multilateral processes are able to deliver.
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Meeting with Axel Voss (Member of the European Parliament, Shadow rapporteur) and Amnesty International Limited and

30 Nov 2020 · Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence

ActionAid demands binding EU rules for sustainable corporate governance

28 Sept 2020
Topic — This initiative aims to improve company law and corporate governance regulatory frameworks.
Message — ActionAid calls for ambitious, binding EU-wide legislation to replace failed voluntary approaches to responsible business conduct. They request that the legislation clarify directors' duties regarding tax avoidance and prioritize societal benefits over shareholder returns.123
Why — This would ensure a level playing field and protect companies from investor pressure.4
Impact — Shareholders would face lower financial returns as companies prioritize long-term social value.56
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Meeting with Diana Montero Melis (Cabinet of Commissioner Jutta Urpilainen), Renaud Savignat (Cabinet of Commissioner Jutta Urpilainen) and

23 Sept 2020 · Making the European Green Deal work for International Partnerships

Meeting with Anthony Agotha (Cabinet of Executive Vice-President Frans Timmermans), Damyana Stoynova (Cabinet of Executive Vice-President Frans Timmermans), Helena Braun (Cabinet of Executive Vice-President Frans Timmermans) and

9 Sept 2020 · The Green Deal implemetation with view to external relations

Response to New Pact on Migration and Asylum

27 Aug 2020

ActionAid welcomes the Roadmap for a New Pact on Asylum and Migration and considers that it has the potential to contribute to the implementation of Agenda 2030 and the SDGs and to the fight against inequalities between and within countries. Human mobility has always been an inherent part of living strategies to respond to challenges and create new ways of moving societies forward. However, movements of people are on a sharp rise, with people often leaving their region or country of origin because of a lack of opportunities for a dignified and fulfilling life. As climate disasters become the new normal, hitting the poorest countries and poorest people most, forced migration must not be addressed as an emergency but as a phenomenon that will continue and expand. Migration has to be seen as a coping strategy that can have the potential to improve the life of migrants and of their relatives and communities who remain back home. We therefore see the Pact as an opportunity for the EU to adopt a long-term human rights-based instead of a purely security driven approach to migration. The EU can be a leader in framing of a modern migration and asylum framework that acknowledges new causes of displacement such as climate change. The Pact should include an analysis of these causes, and how to ensure people on the move are not exposed to further dangers (i.e. trafficking, smuggling). The Pact should adopt a comprehensive long-term approach, reflecting the responsibilities of the Global North towards the Global South. The COVID-19 pandemic and the transformation that our world is facing remind us that inclusive societies that work in solidarity are more resilient than the ones raising walls. Migrants and refugees have to be included in European societies and their human rights need to be respected and protected. They are very diverse with different needs and capacities, and the most vulnerable of them must be protected and supported without discrimination. Investment in migrants’ skills through training and education as well as psychological support where needed in view of the trauma they may have undergone, is important to provide them with opportunities for their personal growth and development and to ensure smooth inclusion in societies. We welcome the intention to propose a reform of the Common European Asylum System and consider that it will require robust monitoring mechanisms. We also welcome the intention to establish solidarity mechanisms and a mechanism for fair responsibility sharing among member states. This requires revising existing policies such as Dublin III. The Pact should: • Adopt a human rights-based approach to migration with a focus on the potential of refugees and migrants for host societies as well as countries of origin, and invest in positive narratives around migration • Encourage member states to promote diverse and inclusive societies • Propose to end the criminalization of solidarity towards migrants & refugees • Establish a human rights-based management of the external borders with focus on accountability • Ensure that the safe and legal pathways for people on the move to the EU will not only apply to highly qualified people, will include a facilitation of seasonal migrations, and will pay due regard to avoiding brain drain from the Global South • Ensure the protection of people on the move, with a particular focus on women and girls, who are the target of specific forms of violence when moving through the countries of origin, transit and destination, including at the borders • Lead regional dialogues on human rights-based migration management including CSOs from transit and origin countries • Encourage more discussion between migration and climate authorities and further research on the role of climate change in migration, as a basis to develop appropriate policies • Spearhead regional and international cooperation on the protection of climate-induced migrants and displaced communities.
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Meeting with Diana Montero Melis (Cabinet of Commissioner Jutta Urpilainen), Renaud Savignat (Cabinet of Commissioner Jutta Urpilainen) and

10 Jun 2020 · European Green Deal, COVID-19 and development cooperation

Meeting with Didier Reynders (Commissioner) and

5 Jun 2020 · Sustainable corporate governance

Response to Climate change mitigation and adaptation taxonomy

27 Apr 2020

ActionAid welcomes the EC’s efforts to reorient investment towards sustainable activities and projects, though we regret that little has been done in relation to social and governance aspects, in spite of the fact that there can be no sustainability if those aspects are not taken into account. While the climate crisis and environmental protection are a priority, social sustainability must be part of the response. Climate solutions must avoid harmful social and human rights impacts, which go much beyond impacts on employment as identified in this Inception Impact Assessment. Renewable energy projects, for example, must not harm communities or drive land grabbing. As the IPCC special report on Land & Climate confirms, large-scale bioenergy as well as bioenergy with carbon capture and storage (BECCS) projects would also require vast areas of land in order to contribute significantly to carbon sequestration, and therefore entail significant risks of landgrabbing, food insecurity and destruction of ecosystems; trade-offs that are unacceptable. Recognizing and supporting the tenure rights of indigenous and traditional communities is an important way of fighting climate change. All land-related investments should abide by the principle of Free, Prior and Informed Consent (FPIC) for all potentially affected local communities. Furthermore, activities such as BECCS which may be perceived to be able to “offset” emissions on a scale large enough to allow for continued GHGs, also pose a “moral hazard” by reducing the incentive to stop producing emissions. This is particularly risky given that technologies such as BECCS are unproven and may never work at scale. Additionally, the energy transition will depend on minerals such as copper, cobalt and lithium, whose demand will increase as the demand for fossil fuels goes down – through climate-friendly activities like solar panels and windmills. The EU should bear in mind the potential unintended consequences of increased demand for minerals for renewable energy technologies. Mineral extraction can be enormously destructive to local environment and human rights. As such it is of high importance that due consideration be made to the enforcement and oversight of the minimum social safeguards outlined in the EU Taxonomy for all of the economic activities which it will promote. The growing demand for minerals and the transition in energy must avoid causing land grabs, environmental destruction and socio-economic harm from scaled-up mining. In addition to reducing the pressure for mining by strengthening efficiency of mineral use, as well as systems and product design to improve the recycling of minerals, the energy transition should translate into a less harmful and more inclusive way of extracting minerals and metals, involving those affected by mining activities in decision-making processes impacting them (men and women living near mine sites, job seekers and indigenous people). The principle of FPIC has a key role to play there. Regarding the climate criteria itself, ActionAid considers that nuclear power, fossil fuels (including fossil gas), and waste incineration must remain excluded from the EU Taxonomy and by no means be considered to contribute to environmental objectives. Intensive livestock, biofuels and biogas use in transport should also be excluded from the Taxonomy. The criteria on hydropower, bioenergy, passenger cars, and forestry must be significantly improved. BECCS should not be included, as it can only work on a massive scale that would require hundreds of millions of hectares to grow tree plantations, which would then be cut down for biomass to be burned, and would likely create huge conflicts over land and water for food production. We invite you to read our paper: ‘ActionAid contribution to the external dimension of the European Green Deal’: https://actionaid.org/sites/default/files/publications/ActionAidExternalGreenDealFinal_19November.pdf
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Response to 2030 Climate Target Plan

9 Apr 2020

Targets: ActionAid International welcomes the initiative to increase the EU’s GHG emission reductions target for 2030. However, we believe a 50 to 55% target compared with 1990 levels is not aligned with science and equity, as it will not ensure the EU does its fair share to limit global warming to 1.5°C. Saying that the EU accounts for less than 10% of global emissions is a massive under-evaluation of actual emissions as it doesn’t reflect emissions incorporated in products and goods we import. Thus, ActionAid is pleading for reductions of at least 80% by 2030, and 100% by 2040. As even 80% of emissions reduction would not meet the EU fair share by 2030, additional resources must be allocated to support developing countries with grant-based climate finance. In spite of having contributed little to climate change, many developing countries are particularly vulnerable to its impacts. Policy options: We welcome the approach aiming at identifying all legislative measures needed to effectively reach more ambitious targets to achieve a just transition. We suggest, however, to take into account the post-Covid situation to determine which sectors of the economy should be supported based on their sustainability, circularity and climate-proofing. Support must also be provided to fund the transition of workers employed in unsustainable sectors of the economy towards other sectors. On agriculture, we draw the EU’s attention to our report about how to engage in a just transition in agriculture, which identifies four key principles for such transition. On sustainable finance and taxation, governments should introduce mandatory regulations. Ongoing measures to make finance more sustainable are too slow, as shown by the damaging short-term financial speculation during the Covid-crisis. We need to put an end to short term speculation and investments in fossil fuels. A progressive Climate Damages Tax on oil, gas and coal extraction following the Polluter Pays principle could raise significant funds needed for the just transition. Also, to respond to Covid-19, Europe must adopt a financial transaction tax to reduce high-frequency and automated trading and introduce a Covid-19 Wealth Tax and a tax on excess corporate profits. When considering EU Carbon Border adjustment, potential impacts on developing countries must be assessed. [https://actionaid.org/publications/2020/actionaid-discussion-paper-eu-carbon-border-adjustment] Finally, at least part of the revenues raised by European environmental taxes and Financial Transaction tax should fund climate-related losses and damages in developing countries. Policy coherence for Development: The inception impact assessment acknowledges that “demand for critical raw materials that are crucial for the deployment of green technologies will increase significantly”. The principle of Free, Prior and Informed Consent must play a key role to ensure that this growing demand for minerals and the transition in energy does not cause land grabs, environmental destruction and socio-economic harm from scaled-up mining. Furthermore, in order to reduce the need for mining of raw materials, recycling of metals and minerals in and outside of the EU should be done on a larger scale to increase sustainability. Socioeconomic & environmental standards for new raw materials: Businesses have the responsibility to address adverse human rights and environmental impacts of their operations. The EU should adopt mandatory regulation for businesses to avoid such adverse impacts, especially in countries where the legal framework is weak. The EU must ensure that companies supplying EU countries with renewable energy sources like solar and wind energy abide by responsible business standards. The EU conflict minerals regulation does not cover copper and cobalt, also linked to human rights abuses. The EU should ensure that the extraction of minerals in developing countries comes with tax transparency and no tax avoidance.
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Meeting with Diana Montero Melis (Cabinet of Commissioner Jutta Urpilainen) and OXFAM INTERNATIONAL EU ADVOCACY OFFICE and ACT Alliance Advocacy to the European Union

8 Apr 2020 · nutrition in partner countries

ActionAid urges EU to target tax avoidance and ultrarich

31 Mar 2020
Topic — This consultation addresses tax evasion and the modernization of European tax rules.
Message — ActionAid calls for the initiative to include tax avoidance and wealth taxes. It demands spillover studies on how EU policies affect developing nations. Finally, it supports creating a UN global tax body.123
Why — Civil society groups would gain influence and resources to monitor fiscal systems.4
Impact — Multinationals and the ultrarich would lose profits due to stricter tax enforcement.5
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Response to EU Action Plan of Gender equality and women’s empowerment in external relations for 2021-2025

30 Mar 2020

ActionAid welcomes the Roadmap and commends the EU’s strong commitment to women’s rights and gender equality in external relations. We hope for continued engagement to make GAP III an ambitious policy frame. Problems the initiative aims to tackle: We welcome that GAP III aims to tackle women’s unpaid care work. The disproportionate burden of unpaid care and domestic work impedes the realisation of a range of rights for women, including access to decent work and economic autonomy, education, health, civic and political participation and leisure. SDG 5.4 commits governments to value unpaid care and promote shared domestic responsibilities. According to the UN, this can be done through public services, infrastructure, social protection and the promotion of shared responsibility within the household/family. We are disappointed, therefore, that the document fails to mention publicly funded gender-responsive public services (https://actionaid.org/sites/default/files/grps_2018_online.pdf) in order to redistribute that work. Nor are there references to the role of progressive and gender-sensitive taxation to fund such public services, i.e. taxation that contributes to equality and doesn’t disproportionately impact women. We strongly encourage the Commission to include those elements in GAP III. In addition, support to changes in social behaviours and stereotypes on gender roles is key to reach co-responsibility in care work between men and women at household level. The EU should also work with member states to coordinate opposition to IMF and World Bank conditionalities that undermine public services, cap public wages (cf women’s high employment rate in the public sector) or encourage regressive taxation disproportionately harming women, such as VAT. We are concerned that the Roadmap fails to acknowledge the differentiated and disproportionate impacts of business activities on women: on their access to land, right to decent work, gender-based violence, etc. There should be an explicit reference to companies’ gender-responsive due diligence obligation in GAP III. Businesses also have an obligation to prevent gender-based violence at work in their supply chains. The EU must regulate to ensure that companies conduct human rights due diligence that is gender-responsive (https://actionaid.org/sites/default/files/publications/We%20Mean%20Business%20-%20Protecting%20Womens%20Rights%20in%20Global%20Supply%20Chains_ActionAid_March%202020.pdf). Climate change impacts the lives of the world’s poorest people the most. It slowly degrades women and girls’ lives by reducing agriculture yields, increasing their unpaid care work, etc. GAP III should include dedicated action on women’s rights and roles in times of climate change (see annex). The EU should also commit to evaluate the impact of its climate-related policy proposals on women’s rights in partner countries. What GAP III will aim to achieve: We welcome the reference to external policies, including trade and climate. We regret the lack of reference to fiscal policies, but hope the EU’s role on domestic resource mobilisation with a progressive and gender-sensitive approach will be addressed under the section on development cooperation (https://actionaid.org/sites/default/files/publications/Collect%20more%20and%20more%20fairly%20-%20ActionAid%20brief%20June%202019.pdf). Last but not least, women are not an homogenous group, and it is crucial to take into account the overlapping and reinforcing inequalities that arise from factors such as race, class, ethnicity, religion, sexuality, age, physical ability, migration status, etc. It is fundamental for GAP III to adopt an intersectional analysis, to take into account the possible impact of EU policies on women's overlapping identities and look at the linkages with the implementation of the Staff Working Document on Inequalities in the EU and member states development cooperation.
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Response to Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism

27 Mar 2020

ActionAid has produced a discussion paper which seeks to analyse the possible consequences or benefits for developing countries of a carbon border adjustment (CBA). While we recognise the possible rationale of the CBA from a climate objective perspective, in our discussion paper and in this feedback we focus more on social justice questions that may arise from a CBA, especially in relation to potential impacts on developing countries. Overall, we believe that the EU should seek to reduce carbon emissions associated with EU imports but other, potentially more effective tools than a CBA, such as import standards regulations, should also be considered alongside or even instead of a CBA. If and when considering and designing the CBA, the EU should be guided by the following principles: 1. Global environmental benefit: a CBA should be designed with global climate, environment and social objectives at its core, and should be flexible and nuanced enough to avoid causing perverse incentives in other countries that ultimately lead to more harm. 2. Policy Coherence for Development: a CBA should be coherent with development policy objectives and avoid any negative impact on the economies of developing countries, including via flanking measures. 3. Equity: acknowledging the EU’s climate debt towards developing countries, as early-industrialised countries have already consumed most of the global carbon budget and must undertake steeper emission reductions to keep the planet under 1.5°C of average global warming. 4. Existing commitments under the Everything But Arms initiative: special approach towards the Least Developed Countries (LDCs), in order to encourage their development, and consider impact on tariff-free access to the EU market where it exists. 5. Fairness and progressivity: considerations of progressivity must be applied to both the exporting developing countries as well as importing EU countries, to ensure the CBA does not create an additional, disproportionate burden on low-income households in Europe nor negative impacts on jobs and inequality in developing countries. Based on our analysis of potential impacts on developing countries, in our discussion paper we conclude that, if the EU does decide to go ahead with a CBA, it must thoroughly consider and take into consideration in the Impact Assessment the following challenges: ● Is the CBA an effective tool to discourage carbon leakage or high GHGs in countries exporting to the EU? Are there other measures that could be more effective, e.g. import standards regulations? ● Is the CBA able to recognise and adjust when other national policies, practices or regulations beyond domestic carbon prices and taxes have led to reduced GHG emissions and benefits to the environment? ● Finding the right balance between respecting developing countries’ policy space, export needs and the EU’s policy coherence for development principle, and addressing the climate emergency by discouraging fossil fuel extraction and other carbon intensive economic activities in the EU and beyond. ● How to ensure that low-income households in Europe are not unfairly and disproportionately penalised by higher prices on essential products? ● Can the revenues from the CBA be used in a fair way? o The revenues accumulated in Europe via the CBA when imposed on products imported from developing countries could be transferred back to the countries concerned for their own budgetary goals, in order to strengthen their domestic resource mobilisation for financing of public services such as housing, education, health, environmental protection, or a just transition. o When a CBA applies to countries that are neither least developed countries nor developing countries, such as non-EU OECD countries, the proceeds could be used for redistribution within Europe to mitigate impacts on low-income households, or alternatively they could be directed to the UN’s Green Climate Fund as additional contributions.
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Meeting with Diana Montero Melis (Cabinet of Commissioner Jutta Urpilainen) and WWF European Policy Programme and

26 Mar 2020 · international dimension of the European Green Deal

Meeting with Helena Braun (Cabinet of First Vice-President Frans Timmermans)

9 Oct 2019 · discussion on environmental protection and women's rights

Meeting with Jyrki Katainen (Vice-President) and WWF European Policy Programme and

3 Apr 2017 · Sustainability finance in the mid-term review of the Capital Markets Union

Meeting with Maria-Myrto Kanellopoulou (Cabinet of Vice-President Neven Mimica) and CONCORD Europe

30 Mar 2017 · European Consensus on Development

Meeting with Denis Cajo (Cabinet of Vice-President Neven Mimica)

26 May 2016 · ActionAid report on industrial policy contribution to job creation in developing countries

Meeting with Pierre Moscovici (Commissioner) and

23 Feb 2016 · the Commission's agenda against corporate tax avoidance and their views on the Anti-Tax Avoidance Package

Meeting with Maria-Myrto Kanellopoulou (Cabinet of Vice-President Neven Mimica), Paolo Berizzi (Cabinet of Vice-President Neven Mimica)

23 Feb 2016 · Priorities of the Commissioner in the field of international cooperation and development. Main areas of interests of ActionAid

Meeting with Antoine Kasel (Cabinet of President Jean-Claude Juncker) and OXFAM INTERNATIONAL EU ADVOCACY OFFICE and

2 Feb 2016 · Discuss Corporate Tax Avoidance Package

Meeting with Peter Power (Cabinet of Commissioner Phil Hogan) and European Coordination Via Campesina

30 Jun 2015 · Rural policy issues in Europe and Africa (discussion Action Aid and Via Campesina)

Meeting with Ivan Prusina (Cabinet of Vice-President Neven Mimica)

28 May 2015 · Tax and Development (domestic revenue mobilisation)

Meeting with Jan Ceyssens (Cabinet of Vice-President Valdis Dombrovskis) and OXFAM INTERNATIONAL EU ADVOCACY OFFICE and European Network on Debt and Development

17 Apr 2015 · Tax avoidance

Meeting with Ivan Prusina (Cabinet of Vice-President Neven Mimica)

31 Mar 2015 · Discussion on ActionAid's new report on a land grab in Tanzania