The former UK prime minister, Gordon Brown has said that China must pay into a new fund for poor countries stricken by climate-driven disasters on the basis of its high greenhouse gas emissions and large economy.
“America and Europe will have to provide most, but China will have to contribute more too,” he said in an interview.
Recall that rich governments finally agreed to a fund for poor countries suffering the impact of extreme weather, known as “loss and damage” last week, at the Cop27 UN climate summit. However, there is no agreement yet on how to fill that fund, and it is likely to be the subject of bitter fighting this year.
In the interview, Brown said that poor countries must be entitled to payments from the rich based on the latter’s historic greenhouse gas emissions, rather than relying on a “begging bowl”.
“A world addressing an existential challenge should not have to rely on charity,” he said. “An action plan that requires donors to contribute to climate finance based on their capacity to pay and historic liability for greenhouse gas emissions should be the starting point for the next round of climate finance. Adequately funding our global goals for the first time would be something to really cheer about.”
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The status of China – the world’s biggest emitter and responsible for more cumulative emissions than any country apart from the US – came under the spotlight, along with that of other countries classed as developing under the 1992 UN framework convention on climate change (UNFCCC) at the COP27.
Although many of those countries now have high greenhouse gas emissions and GDP, under the 1992 definitions which remain unchanged, China and similar countries such as Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait and Russia are regarded as recipients of rather than donors to any fund.
Brown said that the distinction between developed and emerging market countries is breaking down amidst the need for both to fund activities to reduce their still-rising emissions and help low-income countries who are suffering because of them.
According to him, those payments must be made urgently, as poor countries face “dramatically escalating” impacts from extreme weather and must be reached through a “burden-sharing formula” that would include formerly developing countries such as China as donors.
“Without clear agreement on where the cash for a loss and damage fund comes from, “eulogies of praise [for the outcome of Cop27] will soon turn into allegations of betrayal. The president of next year’s Cop28 will have to answer for yet another fund without funders,” Brown warned.
He maintained that poor countries must also be granted relief from their debts as a matter of urgency.
“[Rich countries and creditors] should cancel the unpayable debt of low-income countries in return for those countries taking action on climate, and should agree that debt repayments can be varied in the event of climate disasters,” he said.
Story was adapted from the Guardian.
