Wealthy Western nations—the United States, United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, and Norway—are the epitome of climate hypocrisy. While lecturing the world on the urgency of combating climate change, these nations are simultaneously responsible for 51 per cent of all planned oil and gas field expansions through 2050. This is nothing short of a climate betrayal. These five countries alone plan to unleash 173 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions—equal to the output of 1,100 new coal plants or more than 30 years’ worth of US annual emissions.
Their actions make a mockery of the Paris Agreement and expose their empty rhetoric. While developing countries are berated for not doing enough, the West continues to bankroll its addiction to fossil fuels, prioritising corporate profits over the planet’s survival. Meanwhile, the same countries refuse to provide the financial support they pledged to help poorer nations adapt and mitigate climate change impacts. At COP29, developed nations offered a measly $300 billion annually by 2035 for climate finance—a far cry from the $1.3 trillion required by developing nations to meet their climate goals. This deliberate shortchanging guarantees that the poorest nations, already bearing the brunt of climate disasters, will lack the resources to update their Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) with meaningful ambition in 2025.
The data from the UN Environment Programme’s Emissions Gap Report 2024, released just before the COP29 summit, reveals stark disparities in per capita and historical greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions across regions and countries, highlighting the unequal burden of climate responsibility. The United States, with per capita emissions of 18 tonnes of CO₂ equivalent (tCO₂e) in 2023, produces nearly three times the global average of 6.6 tCO₂e and six times India’s per capita emissions of 2.9 tCO₂e. Similarly, the Russian Federation’s per capita emissions of 19 tCO₂e and the European Union’s 7.3 tCO₂e significantly outpace those of regions such as the African Union (2.2 tCO₂e) and the least developed countries (1.5 tCO₂e). These figures underscore the vast differences in individual contributions to global emissions.
When considering historical emissions, the inequalities become even more pronounced. The United States, with 527 GtCO₂ of cumulative emissions since 1850, is responsible for 20 per cent of the global total, despite having just 4 per cent of the world’s population. The European Union adds another 301 GtCO₂ (12 per cent), while India’s historical emissions amount to only 83 GtCO₂, or 3 per cent of the global total, despite being home to over 1.4 billion people. Even China, the largest current emitter at 16,000 MtCO₂e annually (30 per cent of global emissions), has historical emissions of 300 GtCO₂, roughly half of the United States’ cumulative total. This disparity in both per capita and historical emissions highlights the disproportionate responsibility of developed nations. Countries like India and those in the African Union, which collectively contribute less than 8 per cent of global historical emissions despite their large populations, are being forced to bear the brunt of climate mitigation efforts.
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