Making Polluters Pay

The Case for Global Climate Reparations

In this report, John Feffer examines the growing movement for global climate reparations: what is owed, who owes it, and how it could realistically be paid. Drawing on the experiences of countries like South Africa and voices from the global climate justice movement, Feffer cuts through the gap between what rich nations have promised and what they have actually delivered.

From debt relief and green transition funds to wealth taxes and military budget reallocations, Making Polluters Pay lays out the mechanisms that could turn climate reparations from a moral aspiration into a functioning global institution—and makes the case that without them, the planet cannot be saved.