Climate protection and development policy

Rich countries have emitted a vast amount of C0₂ in the course of their economic development (“carbon debt”). In the process of amassing wealth, they have caused the bulk of climate change, yet its impacts will chiefly hit poorer developing countries. The global carbon debt must be paid off in the next few decades. For one thing, richer countries need to reduce their own emissions drastically. But they also have a responsibility to enable poorer countries to engage in low-emission economic development. Through technical and institutional innovations (e.g. raising energy efficiency, using renewable energy sources, halting deforestation) it is possible to reduce the carbon debt at relatively low cost to national economies. However, this calls for technology policy to be adapted, and funds established to finance climate change adaptation.

A pivotal element is a fair global economic system which does not accept inevitable globalisation as a pretext for undermining the capacities and incomes of the poor. For instance, there is currently a risk that food producers will end up competing for land resources against producers of biomass crops for “green” energy generation. If the poor had less access to food as a result, then it would be ethically unacceptable. An allied risk is the possible escalation of deforestation in tropical rainforests, to clear land for biomass production that generates foreign currency income. This, in turn, would hasten the pace of climate change. The links between climate change and poverty are complex, and a host of feedback loops have not yet been sufficiently researched.