Study Finds US Emissions , Responsible for $2 Trillion , in Damage to Other Nations.
According to a new analysis, the United States has inflicted over $1.9 trillion in damage to other countries through greenhouse gas emissions.
'The Guardian' reports that the study is the first measurement of nations' liability in driving climate change.
The study found the U.S. to be the largest historical emitter of planet-heating gases.
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Those emissions have resulted in heatwaves, crop failures and other consequences in other, mostly poor, countries.
China, Russia, India and Brazil are the next largest contributors to global economic damage as a result of their emissions.
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Those five nations have caused a total of $6 trillion in losses worldwide.
That accounts for about 11% of annual global GDP since 1990.
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There is this huge inequity.
Countries like the US have disproportionately damaged low-income countries in the global south and disproportionately benefited cooler, higher income countries in the global north, Justin Mankin, Geographer at Dartmouth and co-author of the paper, via 'The Guardian'.
Carroll Muffett, chief executive of the Center for International Environmental Law, suggests that the new study could be the first step towards ending the inequity.
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We are moving slowly towards some sort of accountability for this.
As the evidence mounts and the record of US obstructionism in the climate context is established, I don’t think it and other countries will be able to escape their liability in perpetuity, Carroll Muffett, Chief executive of the Center for International Environmental Law, via 'The Guardian'.
We are moving slowly towards some sort of accountability for this.
As the evidence mounts and the record of US obstructionism in the climate context is established, I don’t think it and other countries will be able to escape their liability in perpetuity, Carroll Muffett, Chief executive of the Center for International Environmental Law, via 'The Guardian'
