Paying the Price
Paying the Price
The US is liable for nearly $2 trillion in damages to the economies of other nations due to its production of greenhouse gases between the years of 1990 and 2014, according to a new study from Dartmouth College, which also found China liable for comparable damages. The analysis, published on Tuesday in the peer-reviewed scientific journal Climatic Change, determined the US ranks above China for global damages related to greenhouse gas emissions.More worrying is the fact that the world’s top-five greenhouse gas contributors–the US, China, Russia, India and Brazil–have caused a total of $6 trillion in losses worldwide.“There is this huge inequity,” said co-author Justin Mankin, a geographer at Dartmouth. “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.”
US Liable for $2 Trillion in Damage to Global Economy via Climate Change-Driven Pollution – Study12 July, 17:46 GMTWith a growing focus on climate change, identifying contributors and quantifying their impact is more of a call to action than an effort to place blame. Most countries possess sovereign immunity against legal action regarding such matters.“The costs of climate damages are mounting and ultimately someone will have to pay that cost,” said Carroll Muffett, chief executive of the Center for International Environmental Law. “The question is who will that be and how it will be done.”
