Developing world urges rich nations to defy White House’s ‘climate nihilism’ | Poorer countries want rapid emission cuts and more financial help in face of US leader’s stance on global heating
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2025/feb/19/developing-world-urges-rich-nations-to-defy-trumps-climate-nihilism
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From the article: Developing countries are calling on the rich world to defy the US president, Donald Trump, and bridge the global chasm over climate action, before the goal of limiting global temperatures to safe levels is irretrievably lost.
Diplomats from the developing world are rallying to support Brazil, which will host a crucial climate summit in November, after last year’s talks in Azerbaijan ended in disappointment and acrimony.
Ali Mohamed, the chair of the African group of negotiators and Kenya’s special envoy for climate change, pointed to record temperatures last year and continuing extreme weather. “Africa, responsible for less than 4% of global greenhouse gas emissions, remains disproportionately affected by the intensifying impacts of climate change,” he said. “It is unacceptable that this devastation is caused by the pollution of just a few countries in the world, specifically the G20, and they must take responsibility for their actions.”
As well as needing rich countries to cut their emissions, vulnerable nations need financial help, as they struggle to cope with the devastation they are already seeing. “Adaptation is the priority for us, not a priority,” said Evans Njewa, chair of the least developed countries group. “We are prioritising adaptation, for our key sources of livelihood, and our economies. [Adaptation is essential to our] agriculture, water, the management of natural resources, food security and nutrition.”
Trump’s withdrawal from the Paris agreement came after a fraught and unsatisfactory ending to the Cop29 summit in Baku in November, at which poor countries were promised $1.3tn a year in climate finance by 2035, but of that sum only $300bn is to come chiefly from developed countries. The rest would be made up in hoped-for private sector finance and from potential levies, such as taxes on shipping and frequent flyers, which have yet to be agreed.
For many in the developing world, this is not good enough. If they are to play a role in curbing carbon – and most of the future growth in emissions is projected to come from the developing world – they are demanding a better financial settlement.
“The failure of Cop29 to secure sufficient financing for developing countries – those most affected by climate impacts – represents a grave setback,” said Harjeet Singh, a climate activist and the founding director of the Satat Sampada Climate Foundation. “Without this support, their recovery efforts and transitions to renewable energy are severely hindered, jeopardising global emission reduction goals and exacerbating the climate crisis.”
The ship has sailed.
The window for serious multinational climate action was when the West felt unmatched, unthreatened, and economically preeminent, allowing them to be magnanimous.
The situation today is one of economic uncertainty, land war in Europe, rising eastern rivals, great power conflict, and growing internal threats.
Taking steps that would matter to the climate would require sacrifices of their own people, who have shown time and again that they will not support politicians who ask them to take any level of decline in their living standards, and will actively vote in fringe politicians who promise “Insert-Country First” policies that limit international efforts and prioritize local living standards.
It’s increasingly looking like a larger share of GDP is going to have to be allocated to hard defense spending, and when you’ve suddenly got larger, more effective controls at your physical borders with a population largely hostile to immigration the threat of a migrant crisis becomes less pressing.
The Global South has no way to compel the wealthy nations to take these actions, and it’s increasingly looking like the moral imperatives aren’t going to hold much away going forward.
TLDR: https://youtu.be/qnJzHvPhf8g?si=6pci3tRPuq9KEC2_
There are 3 main characters in the climate change responsibility game.
India, China, and the US. It is exclusively their responsibility to reduce enough emissions to actually make a difference. Any responsibility delegation is a feckless attempt to blame the embers for pouring the gasoline on the planet on fire.
“…in face of US leader’s ***anti-science*** stance on global heating.”
This is not an isolated incident. Trump initially denied COVID, and people died. He appointed (and the idiotic Senate confirmed) an anti-vaccine advocate to head the US health department.