Since the beginning of the industrial age, North America and Europe alone have contributed to about 62% of global carbon emissions. India, on the other hand, accounts for only 3% of historic carbon emissions, even though it currently holds over 17% of the world’s population. The African continent holds over 16% of the global population but has contributed only 3% to historic emissions. As the consequences of climate change become clearer and clearer each passing year, this imbalance in emissions has become increasingly important to highlight. Various floods in the past few years have been linked to an increase in temperature due to human activity. There has been an increase both in the frequency as well as the intensity of flooding. Cases in point are the recent floods in Bihar and Pakistan. While the devastating floods in Bihar in 2017 left 514 people dead, the deluge in Pakistan in 2022 claimed the lives of more than 1,000 people, apart from crippling infrastructure. Moreover, extreme heatwave events, like the ones in the Indian Subcontinent and Europe this year, have been made 30 times more likely by climate change. This year, India experienced the hottest March since 1901, leading to the deaths of over 90 people in the subcontinent. Europe was also affected by a severe heatwave and drought, with the record-setting temperatures in the UK grabbing headlines. Why Reparations? Another important distinction to make here is that Europe, with its much higher GDP per capita and social welfare measures, is much better placed to combat and adapt to these adverse events. The Global North has more resources to tackle these problems, with better prediction and evacuation systems and the ability to invest more in disaster-resilient infrastructure. Hundreds of years of imperialism have led to poverty and deprivation in the Global South. Coupled with the fact that a majority of the emissions come from the Global North, the case for climate reparations to the Global South becomes obvious. The Global North must provide monetary compensation to the South to help transition to renewable energy sources. To ask poor countries to pay for expensive energy by diverting resources from essential services like education, healthcare, and housing is not only unfair but also immoral. Reparations are not a new idea: Germany has paid Israel and Poland for the Holocaust, Japan for the Philippines, and Vietnam for World War II. The same logic must apply here, as the damage is caused by the Global North, but the Global South bears the brunt. Pakistan’s Minister for Climate Change, Sherry Rehman, made the same demand in September this year, saying, ““Historic injustices have to be heard, and there must be some level of climate equation so that the brunt of the irresponsible carbon consumption is not being laid on nations near the equator which are obviously unable to create resilient infrastructure on their own.” Will the rich countries listen?
10 Oct 2022
Soham Shah
