From COP31 to COP32 — climate talks cannot ignore the development crisis

详细摘要

The challenge is not simply how to decarbonise the global economy, but whether the transition can overcome the structural inequalities that have long shaped economic ...

The challenge is not simply how to decarbonise the global economy, but whether the transition can overcome the structural inequalities that have long shaped economic development.

Imraan Valodia is Pro Vice-Chancellor: Climate, Sustainability and Inequality, and Director: Southern Centre for Inequality Studies, University of the Witwatersrand. He is a commissioner of the Presidential Climate Commission. He writes in his personal capacity.

The negotiations at the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP31) in Antalya, Turkey, expose a fundamental contradiction in international climate policy. Developing countries are being asked to accelerate decarbonisation within a global economic system that systematically disadvantages them in accessing finance, technology and productive opportunities.

This is not simply a dispute about climate finance. It reflects a deeper tension between the environmental imperatives of decarbonisation and the economic structures through which development takes place.

The withdrawal of the US from the Paris Agreement makes these tensions particularly acute. Historically the largest contributor to cumulative carbon emissions, the US has withdrawn from the international framework designed to address their consequences. Although American state and local leaders remain engaged, the federal government’s absence raises fundamental questions about historical responsibility and international burden-sharing.

COP31 president Murat Kurum acknowledged these inequalities at the opening of the conference, declaring that narrowing the divides in access to finance and technology is one of climate diplomacy’s greatest responsibilities.

Yet the negotiations demonstrate how difficult it remains to translate this recognition into substantive commitments. Four issues illustrate the underlying global development tensions of the climate transition.

The principle of common but differentiated responsibilities has been central to international climate negotiations since…

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