Poor countries and poor people in all countries are least responsible for driving climate change but most vulnerable to the impacts. Africa is particularly vulnerable and unmitigated climate impacts will result in massive social disruption. Without determined mitigation, tens of millions of people will die or be displaced while support for adaptation is already urgent. The gap between responsibility and vulnerability represents a climate debt owed by the rich to the poor.
The response of the world's governments to the climate crisis is not adequate to the urgency of the situation. The agreed target of 2 degrees is past dangerous. The target for stabilisation of the concentration of greenhouse gases at 450 ppm of carbon dioxide equivalents (CO2e) has a poor chance of delivering on 2 degrees and will soon be exceeded. There is no credible mechanism under discussion to meet the 450 target.
The history of negotiations indicates that the strong will of governments, supported by corporate capital, is to avoid those changes to global systems of production and consumption necessary to seriously reduce carbon emissions. These economic systems are highly unequal, creating great wealth and great poverty both globally and in all countries. Global inequity is replicated in the climate regime
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