Hello friend,

The end of 2025 marks the end of the Jubilee Year. But as I reflect on everything we’ve achieved together in the last twelve months and the momentum we’ve created, it feels more like a beginning.

Jubilee 2025 brought activists and campaigners together to demand action on debt in numbers unseen in a generation. Together, we’ve helped ensure the global debt crisis has dominated the agendas of international meetings - and forced wealthy nations like the UK to listen to the demands of lower-income countries and activists.  

From a mass lobby of parliament to global demonstrations during a major United Nations meeting in Seville, and a debt-themed giant Jenga tower on the banks of the Thames, campaigners have made their demands for debt cancellation heard loud and clear. Read more for a taste of some of the incredible things we achieved together in the Jubilee Year.   

The start of the year saw over twenty organisations in the UK join forces to launch the Cancel Debt, Choose Hope campaign. As we rallied outside the Treasury, thousands of you put your name to the global petition, demanding debt cancellation for countries in crisis.

In June, world leaders met in Seville for a once in a generation conference on development and finance. Hundreds of thousands of people took part in campaign actions in over 40 countries, calling for a new global agreement on debt cancellation.  

World leaders failed to agree a new comprehensive framework for dealing with the debt crisis, but African and other lower-income countries forced debt onto the agenda – and managed to get references to debt justice laws and reform of the debt system into the final text.  

In July we took part in the Act Now, Change Forever mass lobby in Westminster. It was an incredible day, with thousands of people travelling from across the country to speak to their MPs about tackling the climate crisis as well as supporting the Debt Relief Bill – which we helped bring to parliament - and cancelling unjust debt.  

Later in the year, as world leaders arrived for the G20 summit in South Africa, campaigners projected debt cancellation messages onto iconic buildings across Johannesburg, while thousands protested at a counter-summit. As Keir Starmer, the prime minister, was readying to leave, we handed an incredible 68,000 petition signatures into 10 Downing Street demanding action on debt.  

Earlier that month, the United Nations climate talks in Brazil rallied thousands of activists to demand climate justice. Protests inside and outside the conference centre made debt demands loud and clear. As allies protested at COP30, we joined rallies in London and Manchester to speak out about why debt justice is essential for climate justice.

Neither the G20 summit nor the COP30 talks delivered the reforms needed. The climate talks failed to deliver the grant-based funds needed to stop countries being forced into even more debt because of the climate crisis – and ended without a deal on fossil fuels.  

However, climate justice groups made history by securing a major win - an agreement on a just transition. This is a significant milestone that’s been celebrated for its unprecedented inclusion of rights-based language. Thanks to the efforts of campaigners and activists, the text also recognises the need to avoid creating new debt.

Back in the UK, we joined forces with allies to create a powerful new video about the debt crisis which was screened to MPs at an event in parliament. Catch it again here if you missed it. And as oil trader BB Energy took one of the poorest countries in the world to court, nearly 3,000 of us called on them not to sue South Sudan.

friend, we could only have achieved all this by standing together. Alongside campaigners across the globe we’ve built the biggest global debt movement in a generation this Jubilee Year. And thanks to the persistence of campaigners, the government is now considering a debt justice law!  

Together, we’ve forced world leaders to sit up and listen. As we embark on a new year, we’ll make sure we’re building on this momentum together to win debt justice.

In solidarity,

Wiz, Eva, Zak and everyone at Debt Justice

PS. All our campaigning together is only possible thanks to our donors. If you’d like to make sure we can keep building on the successes of Jubilee 2025 in 2026 and beyond, then why not set up a regular gift? Regular gifts of any size make a huge impact on our ability to keep campaigning effectively together. And it only takes 2 minutes to set up.