Rich Nations “Morally Responsible” For Climate Change Costs

A report by Christian Aid, an association of British and Irish churches, said that rich nations are primarily responsible for global warming, and therefore should shoulder the burden of the costs of climate change.

The report called wealthy industrialized nations morally liable for the cost of tackling climate change. Andrew Pendleton, author of “Truly Inconvenient – tackling poverty and climate change at once,” said: “Nations that have grown rich in part by polluting without facing the costs of doing so must now repay their carbon debt to the developing world.”

The argument is not a new one. Developing nations, who can little afford the billions of dollars needed to tackle the issue, often use it. It is not likely, however, that wealthy nations will jump at the chance to shell out cash to fix the problem.

There is an equation called the Greenhouse Development Rights framework that seeks to determine the amount of responsibility each nation has for greenhouse gases. According to the equation, the United States should be responsible for 34.3% of annual costs. This would mean the US would owe around $212 billion per year.

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