This is a raging debate, and I thought I’d let it rage on LinkedIn as well and get your inputs/comments.
A frank discussion between two heads of state, one from a developed economy (say, the US) and another from a relatively less developed economy (say, Bangladesh) could go as follows:
Developed economy honcho (DE): Your country has to do a lot more towards climate change mitigation.
Less developed economy honcho (LDE): Sure, but I have bigger problems – jobs, health, quality of life…And besides, why should we bear the burden when you guys created the problem?
DE: We are all in this together.
LDE: Really? I never heard you guys say that when you were enjoying life and blowing CO2 like there were no tomorrow while my country was struggling for basic needs. By the way, our emissions per capita are so small compared to yours that they should not really matter.
DE: Yes, but if you don’t take actions now, your per capita emissions will be much higher in future.
LDE: Let me think about it.
DE: Sure. And while you do, think about this as well: Countries like yours will be the worst affected by climate change. I would like to repeat: We are all in this together.
Well, what are your thoughts, folks? How do you think LDEs should respond and strategize?
See my LinkedIn post on this topic
