Who should pay for the climate catastrophe?

Wbur says the climate crisis is set to worsen if there is no radical transformation of global energy systems. They say the COP26 summit is set to draft the next phase of the international climate strategy.  

The leaders, from 192 countries, are attempting to set a course for net-zero carbon emissions by 2050 and “crucially, seeking an equitable array of financial flows between nations that will accelerate the shift to renewable energy and limit the impacts of the warming climate.” 

The article says the “conference is not a meeting of equals.” Since the Rio Earth Summit in 1992, stark disparities in wealth, infrastructure and technical know-how between the developed and developing nations have been acknowledged in international climate agreements. 

The “gross imbalance” in the amounts of greenhouse gas that nations produce has also been recognised. The industrialised global north is mainly responsible for carbon pollution, where per capita emissions are sharply higher. 

“If measured from the beginning of a calendar year, the carbon emissions of an average American surpass the yearly emissions of a typical Bangladeshi on January 13”.

The US and China are the top two with the largest share of cumulative emissions that are correlated with the rise in global temperatures since the dawn of the industrial era. The US is in first place and though China is gaining fast, it’s still a distant second. 

But at the other end of the spectrum there are nations who are most threatened by the effects of climate change, including the small island states, despite making little contributions to global warming. 

Therefore the “one-size-fits-all policy” is problematic. The article says a “demand for all countries to adopt a plan to achieve net-zero carbon emissions by 2050” angered members of the “Like-Minded Developing Countries” group. The group is made up of developing countries of various sizes and they say the request was “against climate justice.” 

The LMDC wants advanced economies to zero out emissions before 2050 and allow more of the global remaining carbon budget to be allocated to developing countries.  

Climate finance will be a central issue at COP26  and will be asking who should pay and how much. 

“For example, the developed nations pledged in 2009 to mobilize $100 billion annually in grants and loans by 2020, but they fell short of that goal by about $20 billion. Negotiators are working on the details of new financing mechanisms in Glasgow, aiming to avoid similar trust-eroding failures in the future.” 

Joe Biden has pledged $3 billion per year commitment to his new President’s Emergency Resilience and Adaptation Plan – a massive step in supporting developing nations. But it fails to address a third area where aid is needed, known as “loss and damage.”

This category includes extreme weather events and slow-onset phenomena such as sea-level riser, ocean acidification, loss of biodiversity and desertification. The burden of climate-related damages on developing nations means it’s harder to implement their decarbonisation plans. 

 “As the effects of climate change intensify, their needs will grow exponentially. But the developed countries have rejected the premise that they bear an obligation to provide compensation for these losses.

“The notion that a country like the U.S. would be indebted to a relatively impoverished nation like Bangladesh runs counter to the historical norm of developed countries being the creditors in international finance. The moral calculus of climate debt inverts the conventional model of relations between rich and emerging nations.”

Read the full story, Who should pay for the climate catastrophe? By Frederick Hewett on wbur.