Global Economic Inequalities
Climate Change is one of the most significant challenges that the world is facing nowadays. The growing temperature of the earth’s surface has negative consequences for life. It affected economic activities through climate-induced disasters. Besides shifting climate patterns, global warming has exacerbated global economic inequality in places such as Bangladesh where floods destroy the livelihoods of thousands of people every year, even though the CO2 emissions of Bangladesh are less than that of a small country such as Kuwait. Poorer communities often live in areas more prone to climate-related disasters like floods, droughts, or extreme weather, and have fewer resources to adapt or recover. For instance, in Sub-Saharan Africa or South Asia, extreme heat and water scarcity can devastate agricultural yields, reducing income and food security. Nations with fewer resources face greater challenges in coping with climate change, resulting in larger economic losses. Wealthier countries, meanwhile, have the infrastructure and financial means to mitigate the worst effects, such as building flood defenses or investing in climate-resilient technologies and infrastructure. Climate change can raise food and energy prices, disproportionately affecting low-income households that spend a larger share of their income on these necessities. It has also been affecting sectors like agriculture, fishing, and tourism, often leaving low-wage workers vulnerable to job losses without financial safety nets.
Climate Justice for Sustainable Equal Growth
Climate Justice and sustainable development are deeply interconnected, as both aim to address the unequal impacts of climate change while promoting a sustainable and equitable future. Focuses on ensuring that those who are least responsible for climate change, but most affected by it (such as low-income communities) are prioritized in global climate policies. The gross inequalities in consumption and carbon emissions could be depicted by the fact that the top 10% of emitters globally are also among the top 10% richest nations, which account for around 40% of the total emissions.
while the poorest 10% contribute less than 5% of the total emissions. China, India, the US, and the EU emissions together have consistently exceeded those of the rest of the world over the past decade. The onus of climate change should be more on top greenhouse gas (GHG) emitters and consumers and they should be accountable to those impacted by the consequences of climate change.
This issue of accountability and climate justice is a key talking point throughout the conference of parties meetings. The countries that are least vulnerable to the impact of climate change have been usually the highest GHG emitters and conversely, the most vulnerable communities have been least responsible for their contribution to the planet’s GHG inventory.
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Accountability of Global North
The countries of the global north have taken benefits of industrialization processes. It started in the 18th century, enhancing the economic activities in the Western world. During this period their economies were fully revolutionized. The consequences of that period are viewed in the mid-20th century when a significant rise in the global temperature was witnessed.
The carbon footprint of the wealthiest Americans is 10 times more than that of China’s richest. If China is manufacturing expensive American products to be sold in the US, the carbon footprint associated with the manufacturing of those products should be attributed to the US and not China. The onus of responsibility is on wealthy nations, which have historically contributed more to climate change, to provide financial and technological support to poorer nations. This includes funding for climate mitigation, adaptation projects, and disaster recovery. Achieving the Sustainable Development Goals ( SDGs), especially in developing nations, requires global cooperation and financial support. Climate justice ensures that international financing mechanisms like the Green Climate Fund prioritize equity and support for the most climate-vulnerable countries.
West Manipulation agenda
Over the past few years, the West has cleverly tried to portray climate change as a rising Asia problem, but when we adopt a consumption-based approach by using metrics such as the consumption-based Emissions Inequality Index, then the global North-South divide becomes clear. After exporting many of the polluting industries to Asia, Europe is now phasing out production subsidies to their left-over “dirty” industries only to replace those permits and subsidies with a Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM). The EU Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism is a carbon tariff on carbon-intensive products, such as steel, cement, and some electricity, imported to the European Union.
This attempt by the EU to shift the burden of reforms to foreign producers will distort world trade as these border taxes will serve as a tariff to protect industries in the European trade bloc. Instead of giving subsidies directly to their industries to make them competitive, the CBAM will serve the same purpose but under the guise of green policies.
U.S. President Joe Biden, Xi stated:
Developed countries need to increase [their] climate ambition and action . . . they need to make concrete efforts to help developing countries strengthen the capacity and resilience against climate change, support them in financing, technology, and capacity building, and refrain from creating green trade barriers, to help developing countries accelerate the transition to green and low-carbon development.
Conclusion
The division in international climate negotiations between the Global North and the Global South is driven by the need for an adequately ambitious global response to climate change. In other words, the current agenda of the Conference of Parties’ (COP) gatherings under the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change may not be comprehensive enough to tackle structural and critical challenges. COP meetings like the upcoming Baku Climate Change Conference 2024 provide a forum for exchanging views and deliberating about climate mitigation and adaptation.
But these global discussions need to be more open and ambitious and must account for the needs of developing countries, There are other important matters these deliberations cannot ignore. For instance, there is a need to address issues like climate-induced migrations and an overhaul of the international regime governing the treatment of refugees. Women and children are the most affected by climate disasters. These discussions should also include proposals to reform the intellectual property rights regime to incentivize a clean development agenda for the developing world. A fair settlement only takes place, when the realities of climate change can only emerge if a broader policy agenda can be constructively promoted.
References
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Climate_change
