COP31 will soon open in Antalya, Türkiye, and it’s clear that current levels of finance are not enough to avoid overshooting the Paris Agreement’s target to limit warming to 1.5°C. In the UN system, only 23 developed countries have a formal obligation to provide climate finance, with other countries providing it on a voluntary basis. That list of countries has barely changed in more than thirty years, while the global economy and the pattern of emissions have changed a great deal. So who should be responsible for climate change and its costs?
New research from my CGD colleagues Jonathan Beynon and Ed Wickstead finds that perceptions of who is responsible for emissions don’t tally with the data, with a number of large emerging economies emitting around a third of the total since 1850. While this shouldn’t let developed countries off the hook, additional finance from some of these countries could make all the difference, particularly for the poorest countries who are least responsible for and most vulnerable to the effects of climate change.
On this episode of the CGD Podcast, I’m joined by Melanie Robinson, Director of the Global Climate, Economics and Finance Program at WRI and formerly UK Ambassador to Zimbabwe, UK Executive Director at the World Bank, Development Director in Ethiopia, and Head of the UK’s International Climate Change Policy at the Department for Energy and Climate Change; and Jonathan Beynon, Non-Resident Fellow at CGD and lead author of CGD's paper comparing the historical emissions of developed and developing countries.
Together, we explore what the data tell us about countries’ responsibility for emissions and climate change, discuss the financial implications, and talk through our wishlists for policy change at COP31 and beyond.
