TAI Weekly

TAI Weekly | What Fiscal Justice Means for Climate Justice

By TAI (Role at TAI)
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TAI Weekly

Dear readers,

As usual, this Weekly ranges far and wide from civic space innovations to state capture risks to digitalization for justice to relevant takeaways from COP. Of course, we also have the latest from TAI members, coverage of accountable funder practices, new jobs and events.

But, we start with a stark piece from Carl Bildt, who argues that the illiberal world order is here with the impetus with regimes intent on pursuing their own interests. Read Laura Murphy’s piece in The Economist highlighting authoritarian government pressures on academic freedom: “We must not allow those who seek to deny rights abuses to co-opt our democratic institutions, such as courts, media or universities.”

Happy reading!

TAI team

What's New

The Dominican Republic is defying regional trends of democratic backsliding by taking bold steps to institutionalize civic participation through its National Strategy for Civic Space, demonstrating how a free and active civil society can ensure institutions remain open, accountable, and responsive.

This report from the Columbia Center on Sustainable Investment explores working in politically savvy ways to improve land-based investment governance, and offers insights for practitioners navigating complex political landscapes.

Chipo Dendere's "Death, Diversion, and Departure: Voter Exit and the Persistence of Authoritarianism in Zimbabwe" gives critical analysis of how authoritarian systems persist through voter suppression and manipulation.

Last week, we flagged the new EU Strategy for Civil Society, presenting measures to protect democratic pillars. However, civil society organizations note that the Strategy falls short on key safeguards against reprisals, lacks an EU-wide protection mechanism, and misses clear steps for ensuring a genuinely enabling environment.

The final COP30 agreement did call for tripling climate finance for developing countries by 2025, but language on fossil fuels, forests and minerals was cut from the main text. That ignores realities on the ground. For example, reporting from Brazil's lithium towns reveals the human costs of the critical minerals boom. Jesse Chase-Lubitz explores how to turn this expansion into a development win rather than repeating patterns of the past.

Naomi Roht-Arriaza asks whether the United States is becoming a captured state, focusing on the weakening of federal accountability through reduced civil service protections, declining government professionalism, and fewer checks on executive power that risk creating impunity for powerful actors.

A new investigation by The Sentry exposes how Libya's leaders orchestrated a massive expansion of gasoline and diesel smuggling between 2022 and 2024, costing the country almost $20 billion. In 2024 alone, roughly 15% of Libya's total public spending was stolen through a system deliberately exploited by those responsible for protecting the nation's resources.

The European Center for Non-for-Profit Law has released an updated Effective Framework for Meaningful Engagement, offering practical guidance on engaging civil society and affected communities in AI development. This framework helps product designers meaningfully involve external stakeholders in developing algorithmic systems and can be used for human rights impact assessments and compliance processes.

“Beyond Neoliberalism: Weaving a Feminist Future Together” is a powerful synthesis of African feminist thought leadership co-organized by ActionAid, Akina Mama wa Afrika, and The Nawi Collective. This Jacaranda Paper challenges any claim that "there is no alternative" to neoliberalism, calling for systemic economic change rooted in African values through disruption, world-building, and reparative justice. Pair with this conference report on Financing for Feminist Futures detailing how funders can support feminist movements and economic justice work.

The Leaders Network for Environmental Activists and Defenders was launched at COP30, the culmination of years of co-creation among defenders, governments, philanthropy, and multilateral bodies. Government representatives from Brazil, Denmark, Chile, Colombia, Liberia, Mexico, and Sweden expressed commitment to protect and work with environmental human rights defenders, placing them at the heart of climate decisions.

A new case study from Armenia demonstrates how digital transformation can shift justice systems from paper loyalty to digital confidence, improving user experience and access to justice.

From Our Members

MACARTHUR FOUNDATION: President John Palfrey announced that the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard's Sentinel project is the 2025 recipient of the 100&Change Award, The Organized Crime and Reporting Project may not have been the ultimate winner, but will still receive a $1 million grant as one of the four finalists.

FORD FOUNDATION: Shared that former U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner and renowned visual artist Mark Bradford are joining its Board of Trustees, while Noorain Khan is welcomed as vice president and chief innovation officer, a new role covering Mission Investments, Ford Global Fellows, and the Office of Strategy and Impact. Plus, see President Heather Gerken’s profile in the New York Times.

ESSENTIAL READING

TAI was glad to join with the Thinking and Working Politically Community in Washington, D.C. last week to talk about democratic futures. What does it mean to think and work politically? Read this new guide to the approach, part of a series of technical notes on the use of political economy analysis in practice. It explains the range of frameworks for context analysis in international cooperation and how to select the most appropriate one.

TOOLS AND TRENDS FOR FUNDERS

Mary Lee Alder launched The UnFoundation, challenging the notion that traditional philanthropy is broken by demonstrating an alternative model. The UnFoundation gives away 50% of its assets every year to nonprofits led by and serving marginalized communities, operating on trust rather than control and empowering those closest to problems to identify solutions.

As Asian philanthropy continues to rise, a new analysis explores how networks and intermediary organizations play a crucial role in shaping, supporting, and scaling philanthropic efforts across the region. These entities can be essential bridges between donors, nonprofits, governments, and beneficiaries, aiding more effective and strategic giving.

Laura Bacon, former founding director of Partner Support at Luminate and a former TAI Steering Committee member, shares hard-won lessons on beyond-the-check support with us. Her insights address the question of how to provide non-financial support creatively, strategically, and with care within trust-based philanthropy frameworks. First published by the Center for Effective Philanthropy.

Elemental, Our Collective Practice, and the Constellations Culture Change Fund offer guidance on how to fund like a narrative strategist. They warn that while "narrative change" has become trending in philanthropy, liberation movements risk being overshadowed by funder-driven frameworks, and emphasize the importance of following the lead of those with the greatest practical experience navigating social change. Read alongside TAI's new reflections and study on civil society narratives, The Stories We Tell.

Essential Reading

Vu Le makes a compelling case for funders to stop dressing up requirements as accountability, calling out what he terms tedious and paternalistic practices that undermine genuine nonprofit accountability and trust-based relationships.

Focused Topic of the Week

Defaulting on Our Futures? Intersections of Global Finance, Fiscal and Climate Justice

Many worry that financial structures inherited from the postwar era continue to shape -and constrain- the possibilities for billions of people worldwide. The Senterej Series dialogue lays out how nations across the Global South find themselves trapped in cycles where debt servicing claims more resources than investments in health and education combined, effectively forcing governments to choose between paying creditors and meeting obligations to their own citizens.

South Africa's hosting of the first G20 Africa Summit brought these competing needs to the fore with faith leaders and policymakers alike demanding systemic debt relief as more than charity, but rather as a prerequisite for any meaningful development agenda. The summit's ministerial declaration on debt sustainability acknowledged what marginalized economies have long experienced: that sky-high interest rates and structural deficits constrain investment in the basic infrastructure of dignified life. Proposals for a Cost of Capital Commission represent tentative steps toward recognizing that the price of capital itself is political, and that interest rates encode power relations.

This was part of the backdrop for a conversation hosted by the International Education Funders Group and the OECD Net Fwd team this past week, where TAI was among those highlighting ways that philanthropy can work on debt and tax issues, strengthening country systems. Whether you are an education funder, health funder, conservation funder, you should care about fiscal reform. Stay tuned for the session recording and don’t forget TAI’s fiscalspace.org primer.

Unlocking fiscal space for low income countries was a focus not just in Johannesburg, but also Belem this past week where unlocking funds for climate mitigation and adaptations remained fraught. Fiscal reform can make a difference. On the debt side, Latin America and Caribbean development banks announced a new debt-for-resilience initiative. On the tax side, Ian Gary highlights how tax transparency connects fiscal justice directly to climate action. The same opacity allowing wealth to escape taxation also enables the externalization of environmental costs. Ian argues that the structures permitting capital flight are inseparable from those permitting ecological destruction. He might soon get more evidence to make his case as UN-WIDER has launched a call for “theoretical and empirical studies exploring how fiscal tools like carbon pricing and fossil fuel subsidy reforms can promote sustainability while ensuring equity and inclusion,” part of its domestic revenue mobilization program. 

In a related vein, Jayati Ghosh argues for taxing the superrich, not as punitive redistribution but in recognition that concentrated wealth represents concentrated power over global commons. She makes the case that addressing climate breakdown requires confronting the mechanisms through which extreme inequality is maintained and protected.

JOBS

CALLS

CALENDAR

  1. OECD speaker Series from October to December 2025, as speakers explore fresh approaches to engaging the public on the major fiscal challenges facing OECD countries.

  2. The Nippon Foundation hosts the 4th Asia Philanthropy Congress under the theme "Philanthropy's Role in a Fragmented and Uncertain World." Venue: InterContinental Tokyo Bay. Thursday, December 4, 2025, 10:00 a.m. - 7:00 p.m. (JST, GMT+9:00)

  3. Development Effectiveness Dialogues. The leads of the 2030 Pact on Effective Development Co-operation, launched under the Compromiso de Sevilla, will be hosting the first gathering in a new series of Development Effectiveness Dialogues. This open multi-stakeholder space aims to revitalize the development effectiveness agenda. December 5, 2025.

  4. MIT Polarization Workshop Academic conference examining political and social polarization dynamics and research approaches. December 5-6, 2025.

  5. 11th Session of the Conference of the States Parties (CoSP11) to the United Nations Convention against Corruption (UNCAC), Doha, Qatar. December 14-19, 2025.

  6. Reclaim the Economy Week. 26 January - 1 February 2026.

  7. People Powered 2026 Convening - A global gathering on participatory democracy. Nairobi, Kenya. March 2–5, 2026.

  8. Othering & Belonging Conference, Louisville, Kentucky, March 31-April 1, 2026.

  9. Rabat, Morocco: On Think Tanks Conference, focusing on "Think Tanks and Trust." 19–21 May 2026.

We’d love to hear from you on how we can further improve TAI Weekly to better serve your needs in program management on the transparency, accountability, improved grantmaking and civic space. Please direct your feedback to [email protected] or

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