Promising carbon emissions cuts is easy, but actually getting to net zero will be immensely hard – in every country. Wealthy and developing countries alike have struggled to create the political and social consensus to accept major changes to how we live, or to pay for a low-carbon future in higher taxes.
However, developing countries face an additional hurdle, which is mobilizing the money to pay for a green transformation. Their climate financing needs are substantial. The United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) estimates a financing gap of $2.5 trillion per year in developing countries.
It would be delusional to assume that low and middle-income countries can raise that sort of money in domestic taxes, or that all but a handful of them will be able to access it on affordable terms from international financial markets. It simply will not happen.
But we cannot solve the climate crisis without developing countries. High-income countries and China account for the majority of global emissions today, but emissions in developing countries, with their growing populations and incomes, will increase rapidly this century.
