Greenhouse gas emissions anywhere, cause climate change everywhere. Ending emissions in the wealthy countries is key. However, by 2030 it is estimated that more than 50% of global emissions will come from countries in the Global South (low income nations). These countries do not have the resources to transition to clean renewable energy, keep their own fossil fuels in the ground, adapt to the effects of climate change, and pay for loss and damage from climate change. Yet, it is essential to the entire world that they do so.
The wealthy nations mostly got wealthy burning fossil fuels (thus destroying the climate) and exploiting and extracting wealth from the nations of the Global South. The Global South nations are poor primarily because of centuries of colonialism, neo-colonialism, and exploitation by the wealthy nations of the Global North.
There is now an emerging global consensus that the only way climate change can be stopped is to transfer massive amounts of funds and resources from the wealthy nations (primarily the U.S. and Europe) to the Global South. This money must come from taxing the very rich and the wealthy corporations, reductions in military budgets, and ending subsidies for fossil fuels.
At Climate Action Now – Western Mass we are committed to helping to build a movement in the U.S. to demand that the U.S. pay its fair share of this needed global climate financing.
For more information and explanations of why we think such a movement is possible, we recommend:
“The Fair Share of the Global North in the Climate Emergency” from “Sustaining All Life”
“Solving Humanity’s Shared Climate Crisis” – op-ed from the Daily Hampshire Gazette by Russ Vernon-Jones
“Fair Shares Explained” – video from US Climate Action Network
