Pirate's Cove

Perhaps we should make China pay for releasing the Wuhan Flu, but, that won’t happen. Neither will this

New U.S. message on climate change: Make China pay

The U.S. is suddenly open to making rich nations pay reparations to countries suffering the ravages of climate change — but only if China ponies up, too.

The about-face comes after years of Washington serving as the bulwark of wealthy countries’ resistance to making such payments, and would set up China as the new climate bogeyman. It would also challenge Beijing’s assertion that China should still be seen as a developing nation.

Paying developing nations that suffer from climate-driven disasters and rising temperatures is one of the most contentious issues in global climate negotiations, which resume this weekend at a major conference in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt.

China should contribute its own funds to the cause, U.S. Special Envoy John Kerry told reporters late last month, “especially if they think they’re going to continue to go on to the next 30 years with increasing their emissions.”

The issue, referred to as “loss and damage” in the parlance of the global talks, calls for the U.S. and Europe’s industrialized nations to send funding to less-developed countries that have suffered from floods, heatwaves, droughts, rising seas and other disasters worsened by the changing climate. Those nations have contributed little to the crisis — in contrast to the United States, which during the past two centuries has pumped more greenhouse gases into the atmosphere than any other country.

The U.S. is now the world’s second-largest current climate polluter. China ranks as No. 1, with carbon emissions more than double those of the U.S.

Like this will actually happen? Like China won’t demand a lot of concessions from the U.S. and the E.U? But, see, there’s one rather big problem if China does agree

China may not be principally opposed to sending money to climate vulnerable nations. But it would be on China’s terms, meaning it would be conducted under the rubric of “South-South” cooperation. That would avoid Beijing having to blur the line between developed and developing countries that it uses to differentiate its responsibilities from those of the U.S. and Europe.

“The South-South cooperation from China is enormous,” said Kaveh Guilanpour, vice president for international strategies with the Center for Climate and Energy Solutions, who has advised U.K. and EU climate negotiators and held a role on the U.N. Secretary-General’s climate team.

See, most of the climate cash to “developing nations” is meant to be strings-free, because 1st world nations “owe” them. Does anyone think that China wouldn’t put strings on the money, attempting to bring those countries into China’s arms?