A Cruel COP-out: Climate Disaster Looms As Rich Nations Give Up Poor Neighbors
One of the obvious findings at COP29 — and the ones before it — is that rich nations will need to spend more money on poorer countries as they try to slow global warming. But, it seems, that cash will either be paltry never be handed over.
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A handful of figures exist about the global cost of arresting greenhouse gas emission increases, with some putting it as high as $1 trillion a year. Of this, tens of billions of this will need to go to emerging nations — and not as debt, because there is no reason to believe that poor nations can pay it off.
The rich are reticent
Semafor summed up the problem: “Developing nations blame richer peers for being responsible for the climate crisis, while wealthy countries say the trillions of dollars being demanded just aren’t there.”
If money is to be handed out, the largest amounts sent to developing nations should come from China, the U.S. and India, the top-three polluters. The World Resources Institute says China is responsible for 30% of emissions, while the American figure is 11%, with rapidly growing India at 8% and a heavy user of coal.
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