Climate Change and Developing Countries
Why the countries that contributed least to climate change will suffer most from it, and the fight over who pays.
The Climate Injustice
The countries most vulnerable to climate change are those that contributed least to causing it. Sub-Saharan Africa accounts for roughly 4% of cumulative global CO2 emissions but faces some of the most severe climate impacts: more frequent droughts in the Sahel, rising sea levels threatening coastal West Africa, and declining agricultural yields across the continent. Small island developing states like Tuvalu and the Maldives face literal existential threats from sea level rise.
The economic costs are staggering. The Vulnerable Twenty (V20) group of climate-vulnerable nations estimates that its members have lost 20% of potential GDP growth due to climate change over the past two decades. The World Bank projects that climate change could push an additional 132 million people into extreme poverty by 2030. In agriculture-dependent economies, a single severe drought can reverse years of development progress.