The 2025 Annual Strategy Meeting of the Demand for Climate Justice (DCJ) Global Coordinating Committee took place in Penang, Malaysia, from March 25–26, bringing together DCJ Coordinating Committee (CC) members from around the world to evaluate the network’s progress, sharpen its direction, and shape the collective agenda for the year ahead.
The DCJ network is a global alliance of civil society groups, grassroots movements, indigenous communities, faith-based institutions, labour groups, and advocacy organisations united by the singular vision that climate action must be rooted in justice, equity, and historical responsibility. DCJ emerged from the long legacy of Southern resistance to false solutions and market-driven responses to the climate crisis and has since grown into a vital coordination platform for international mobilisation, policy intervention, and systems-level critique.
This year’s meeting brought together key DCJ Coordinating Committee members, including the Third World Network (TWN), Corporate Accountability (CA), the Asian Peoples’ Movement on Debt and Development (APMDD), and Oil Change International. Representing Africa was Ogunlade Olamide Martins, Senior Programme Manager of the Climate Desk at Corporate Accountability and Public Participation Africa (CAPPA)—DCJ’s sole African member.
Over the course of two days, the Committee reviewed its organising model, focusing on grassroots mobilisation, regional coordination, national advocacy, and international engagement, especially within the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) processes. While acknowledging the progress made, members also recognised the need to deepen movement discipline and coherence in the face of increasing repression, co-optation, and global inaction.
A key part of the meeting was dedicated to outlining DCJ’s strategic priorities for 2025. These include enhanced participation in the People’s Summit leading up to COP30 in Brazil, strengthened interventions at the UNFCCC, and resource mobilisation for urgent campaigns. Central to these priorities is DCJ’s focus on system change—particularly around equity, climate debt, reparations, and the principle of Common But Differentiated Responsibilities (CBDR), which continue to be undermined by market-oriented climate policies and the growing influence of fossil fuel corporations at international negotiations.
The Coordinating Committee addressed the network’s current funding deficit, resolving to broaden its donor base and build a targeted fundraising strategy to sustain movement infrastructure. It also identified the declining access of local organisations to Global Climate Fund (GCF) mechanisms as a pressing issue. To bridge this gap, the Committee’s Climate Finance Working Group will expand its role to include capacity-building workshops, mapping grassroots actors, and facilitating structured dialogue with climate finance institutions.
Other working groups were also restructured to reflect today’s political needs. The Food Working Group will prioritise food sovereignty, agroecology, seed justice, resilience, and local adaptation practices. The Adaptation Working Group will address areas such as loss and damage, ecosystem protection, water and food access, and the capacity building of frontline actors. The Real Solutions Working Group will take the lead on rejecting false solutions through learning spaces, campaign materials, and a new movement declaration.
One of the most pivotal outcomes of the meeting was the strengthening of the Reparations Working Group, which will lead regional dialogues on redefining reparations, with a particular focus on Africa’s historical and current demands. In parallel, efforts will focus on identifying DCJ members engaged in climate migration work, with the goal of framing displacement as a direct outcome of systemic injustice and connecting it to the broader reparations’ agenda.
The meeting also confronted long-standing concerns around regional representation. Members from Africa and Latin America noted persistent challenges such as delayed feedback, limited funding, and fragmented coordination. In response, the Committee agreed to mapping and supporting credible grassroots organisations in these regions to lead DCJ’s regional work. The goal is not only representation, but meaningful leadership shaped by the political and material realities of those at the frontlines. The Committee also agreed to strengthen faith-based alliances and local partnerships to anchor its campaigns in cultural legitimacy and deepen public engagement. Members highlighted shared global challenges—from the silencing of dissent in the Global North to structural exclusion in the Global South—but maintained that despite regional differences, the struggle is united.
Recognising the need for bold and coordinated action, the Committee adopted a unified campaign theme for 2025: This World Is Ours. The slogan will guide a series of major mobilisations throughout the year, including the Global Days of Action on Finance in June, the IMF-World Bank Annual Meetings in October, and the UNFCCC COP30 in November. DCJ will also support and co-organise the People’s Summit ahead of COP30, amplifying the voices of people’s movements in contrast to elite-dominated negotiations. Across these interventions, the focus will remain on people’s rights, labour justice, reparations, and systemic transformation.
CAPPA’s role in 2025 will expand significantly. As the only African organisation on the Coordinating Committee, it will recruit new African members, support their onboarding and profiling, and lead mobilisation efforts on the continent. CAPPA will also leverage its upcoming media training sessions to embed African perspectives in global advocacy. Its communications unit will coordinate with DCJ’s Communications Officer to amplify shared campaigns and supply contextual insight to strengthen global messaging.
In addition, CAPPA will co-lead the newly formed Energy Working Group, alongside APMDD. This group will develop a common framework on energy justice, fossil fuel phaseout, and just transition policies, ensuring these issues remain at the heart of DCJ’s campaign strategy throughout the year.
The meeting closed with reflections from Meena Raman of the Third World Network, who hosted the gathering. She commended the Committee for its clarity, persistence, and internationalism, despite the growing obstacles confronting movements around the world.
