Throughout the US midterms, we have been hearing less debate about Global Warming and the effects of Climate Change than most people should be comfortable hearing. It seems that the vast majority of politicians are more worried about the current issues that will keep them in office, than future issues that will keep our children alive. While it is not possible to objectively compare the relative worth of different topics, it does seem apparent that, for as much as we mocked our older generations for their past decisions, our children will and should do the same.
Governments are quick to point out where foreign countries are falling short, particularly the USA. But how much should we be looking in the mirror. As a world leader in almost everything, politicians have been less than slow in moving forward with environmental issues.
The financial cost to reverse Global Warming will not be cheap and the longer we stall on this topic, the harder and more expensive it will become. But how should we be splitting the cost? Much like splitting a food check, where not all of the meals are created equal, some of the countries have just been eating the side salad.
Source: Carbon Dioxide Information Analysis Center (1950 to current)
While records can be looked at going back to the 18th century, we will examine data from after the 1950’s, which is roughly the time people began to understand air pollution and the hazardous effects. Since then, the US has accounted for nearly a quarter of total CO2 emissions. We rank 5th among countries in per capita CO2 emissions, behind only four Middle Eastern oil & gas producing nations.
As of May 2018, here are the rankings for the Green Climate Fund that was formed in order to address the pressing mitigation and adaptation needs of developing countries.
Source: Green Climate Fund
We can see that the US is contributing in line with our global emissions. What is notable is that Japan, the UK, France, Germany, Sweden, Norway, Australia, Spain and Denmark are all contributing more than twice their share. With the exception of China, Russia and the Middle Eastern States who have not signed on to the commitment, the remaining countries are also exceeding their obligations.
While there are many other metrics that we can use to measure a countries contribution to Climate Change (as well as other funds that have been set up), this is a leading indicator that was established at the 2015 G7 summit that countries should be looking to meet as a minimum.
The goal of the fund was set at $100B of contributions per year by 2020, and squabbling over who-paid-what of the $10.2B currently raised since 2015 will not help towards this goal. As a world leader, the US must follow the example of other forward thinking nations and contribute more to the Green Climate Fund than our share. Only then will the rest of the world that isn’t already committed to help, begin to follow suit.
