Finance in Common Summit

On 26-28 February 2025, as the world’s largest development banks gather for the Finance in Common summit (FICS) in Cape Town (South Africa), a group of around 50 civil society activists from Africa and beyond will come together to denounce how these institutions are worsening the exact problems they claim to be solving.

Public development banks (PDBs), like the World Bank or the African Development Bank, are one of the most powerful players in the global economy. At the annual FICS summit, they present themselves as champions in the fight against climate change and key drivers of sustainable development. According to social movements and activists worldwide, however, PDBs are promoting projects and policies that are far from being the right solution to the world’s biggest crises.