When the weakest work the hardest on climate

Climate Progress published an article on how developing countries are more moving on climate change than developed, when the latter are responsible for the largest share of emissions…

This is completely crazy and sad at the same time. As they note : ” The countries that have made the smallest contribution to climate change may be doing the most to address it.

” That would be Robin Hood in reverse — compounding the fact that we are all reverse Robin Hoods, maintaining our wealthy lifestyles by robbing our children of a livable climate and truly sustainable wealth”

The article goes on :

A new report from Stockholm Environment Institute (SEI) finds that developing nations are on track to reduce emissions more than their industrialized counterparts.  The report, commissioned by Oxfam for the GROW Campaign, made some striking claims, including:

  • China’s total emissions reductions could be nearly double those of the US by 2020.
  • The emissions reductions of developing countries could be three times greater than those of the EU by 2020.
  • The emission reductions of China, India, South Africa and Brazil – the BASIC countries – could be slightly greater than the combined efforts of the 7 biggest developed countries – the US, Europe, Japan, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and Russia by 2020.

However, with many developed countries still hesitant to implement aggressive emissions-reduction targets, the cumulative impact will not be enough to prevent a 2 degrees rise in global temperature — the limit agreed upon in Cancun.

When I see the amount of energy we waste in Western countries, I can just write we really need to step up and act. This would make perfect sense with all our socio-economical and environmental issues…

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