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The reluctance of developed nations to help contain climate change was on full display during the most recent Summit for a New Global Climate Financing Pact. The summit was aimed at resolving key issues related to climate financing and had garnered a significant amount of expectation due to the participation of the United States and also international organisations like the IMF and the World Bank. Many had dubbed it as the ‘new Breton Woods’ moment which would be a decisive first step towards tackling climate change. Ultimately this turned out to be another moment of misplaced optimism as many major issues remain unresolved.
One of the only positives of this summit was that the developed nations finally promised to act on the 100 billion dollar pledge made in 2009, which was to be completed by 2020. Not only is this move too late at this critical juncture but it is also insufficient. It has been estimated that the developing world will require three trillion dollars per year by 2030 to deal with the complications and change caused by climate change. The World Bank also announced that they will allow disaster hit countries to pause debt repayment; but this would only be applicable to new loans. Additionally, the IMF and the World Bank announced that 100 billion dollar worth of credit would be given to countries vulnerable to climate change. This initiative was questioned by the Indian contingent who rightly pointed out the need to differentiate loans given to countries for development and loans given to deal with climate change. This is essential in ensuring that developing countries do not fall into an unending debt trap. Every measure or policy suggested at this conference comes with a caveat which represents the unwillingness of developed nations to adequately contribute to the resolution of the global climate crisis.
These half measures come as no surprise to developing nations as developed nations have historically always shied away from taking responsibility when dealing with climate change. This pattern has not changed despite the fact that the impact of climate change is more visible than ever. The world’s ecological balance in almost all parts of the globe has been exponentially and adversely affected by human activities over the last few decades, and effective action in this regard is the need of the hour. Any measure to combat the effects of climate change would require fundamental change in both economic and social structures. In essence climate change is a result of the development of resource usage and extractions, and to reverse the effects of climate change would require a fundamental change in production and consumption patterns. Change like this is obviously expensive and requires large and long term investments. In this scenario it is clear that a majority of the burden should be borne by more developed and prosperous countries as they are more financially strong. Unless developed countries are willing to take the first and necessary steps, the climate crisis will continue to worsen unabated.