Should developing countries and developed world equally bear the burden of tackling climate change?

We know that global warming and climate change have caused some serious damage to our planet earth.??

A couple of weeks ago, I asked my LinkedIn connections this:??

“Should developing countries and developed world equally bear the burden of tackling climate change?”??

I’ve gathered some great answers.??

1. The short answer is that the biggest polluters and consumers have the biggest responsibility and culpability.??

The long answer is complicated. Developing nations frequently have the most undeveloped land and biodiversity, but also can fairly resent being asked by developed countries to tradeoff development for “the greater good”. - Johann Oh

2. All the big countries saying, “No sir, don’t pollute.” have been doing it for centuries.?

They’ve been the direct beneficiary of the ability to cause adverse climate change and now that they’ve moved on, they’re asking all the smaller guys to not do it when they’ve been doing so for ages. - Adrian Sim

3. This will be CBDR (Common but differentiated responsibilities) in practice. Smaller countries and least developed countries (LDCs) are the least responsible, but most affected.?

It’s easy to lose hope in the face of such impossible odds; what with how we’re constantly breaking the record for the hottest year in history every year and how I’m literally counting my ‘Ang Pau’s while hiding from a rainy Chinese New Year.??

But global cohesive efforts in tackling real problems have yielded successful results before. Just look at the ozone layer, for example. It used to have a hole, but we all got together to agree to stop using toxic gases that contribute to the hole, and now the hole is gone!?

So, I guess I remain hopeful; angry, but hopeful. - Joe Kit Yong ?

4. I think there’s 2 different questions here. The first one being whether or not there should be equal responsibility. With the problem being of a global nature, I think the response should also be global and therefore everybody has equal responsibility to act. ??

The interesting second part of the question is who should bear the burden. Industrialisation, a prime factor in the triggers of climate change, is what a key element in the definition of a developed country and has often led to prosperity and welfare. ??

On the flip side of the coin, we have the developing countries which feel the consequences of climate change are often more intensively. From that perspective, the developed countries should probably bear more of the burden financially speaking. ??

That does raise several socio-economical, geo-political and macro-economical topics to be tackled, but somehow, I believe that when executed properly, it could also result in an acceleration of the developing countries. It’s human nature to at least consider copying something that has worked for others with the idea that the result will be the same. Allowing for history to repeat itself when development continues would be a wasted opportunity for driving, for example, decarbonisation. - Lesly Janssens ?

5. Yes, they should. Developed and developing countries that emit greenhouse gases are the primary cause of climate change. Therefore, they bear the responsibility of fighting it.?

The undeveloped nations don't emit much greenhouse gases. They may not be economically stable to fight climate change, hence remain neutral on the climate change map.??

However, it is important to note that the developed and developing countries also produce the innovation that drives our civilisation forward, including solutions to overcome climate change. The undeveloped nations are eventual beneficiaries of these innovations. - Aaron Nason ?

I love the answers from all the participants! What are your thoughts?