Press releases

“Oxfam is dismayed at this third consecutive year of rising hunger. We’re back to where we were a decade ago. As ever, hunger is caused by human actions that drive poverty and inequality, conflict and war, poor governance, wastage, and worsening climate change," said Oxfam International’s executive director Winnie Byanyima in response..

Rice, soy beans, corn, wheat and palm oil together lead to more greenhouse gas emissions than any country’s individual footprint, apart from China and the United States, according to new Oxfam research into the food industry and climate change.

Oxfam today warned that EU countries must cut themselves loose from the US or risk losing a groundbreaking climate deal that has been two years in the making. A fair and safe deal can be struck in Copenhagen this year, but world leaders cannot wait for the US to play catch-up.

Oxfam warns that over six million people from farming families in Zambia are facing acute food shortages and malnutrition until next growing season, which is twelve months away, due to a severe drought, exacerbated by climate change and El Nino, which has caused massive crop failures for half of the nation’s “planted area”. 

The richest 1 percent of the world’s population produced as much carbon pollution in 2019 than the five billion people who made up the poorest two-thirds of humanity, reveals a new Oxfam report today. It comes ahead of the UN climate summit in Dubai, amid growing fears that the 1.5°C target for curtailing rising temperatures appears increasingly unachievable.

Oxfam has joined 14 NGOs to push the European Commission to keep to its commitment to reform the role of company directors to make big companies more accountable for human rights and environmental abuses in their supply chains, and more sustainable – a key move in light of current challenges such as the climate crisis and a growing gap between the rich and the poor. 

The “Global Report on Food Crises”, released today by the Food Security Information Network, says that more than 113 million people across 53 countries experienced acute hunger and required urgent food, nutrition and livelihoods assistance in 2018. This is a human-made crisis caused by conflict, climate change, and a broken global food system, says Oxfam France’s Executive Director Cécile Duflot.

A group of economists, activists, politicians and millionaires from seven countries across Europe today registered a ‘European Citizens’ Initiative’ (ECI) calling on the European Union (EU) to adopt a permanent annual wealth tax on Europe’s biggest fortunes to raise revenue to reduce poverty and inequality both at home and in poorer countries, and to tackle the climate crisis.

A new Oxfam report today says that as many as 11 people are likely dying of hunger and malnutrition each minute. This is more than the current global death rate of COVID-19, which is around seven people per minute. The report, ‘says that conflict remains the primary cause of hunger since the pandemic, pushing over half a million people into famine-like conditions ―a six-fold increase since 2020.

Responding to the publication of the G20 Leaders’ communiqué, Oxfam Brazil’s Executive Director Viviana Santiago said: “We applaud Brazil for using their G20 Presidency to respond to people’s demands worldwide to tackle extreme inequality, hunger and climate breakdown, and particularly for rallying action on taxing the super-rich. Brazil has lit a path toward a more just and resilient world, challenging others to meet them at this critical juncture.”