In a cruel case of injustice heaped upon injustice, the people who stand to suffer the most from climate change have the least responsibility for causing it and the fewest resources to avoid its ravages.

For centuries, richer nations accrued vast wealth by exploiting the planet’s resources at the expense of less developed, poorer countries. Most of these countries are in what we once called the Third World and what we now call the Global South — Africa, Asia, Oceania, Latin America and the Caribbean.

Today, the wealthiest 10 per cent of the world’s population contributes 49 per cent of all greenhouse gas emissions, while the 50 per cent of the world’s population living in developing nations is accountable for only 12 per cent. At the same time, the wealthiest country on Earth, the United States, has just elected a climate denier to the presidency.

The election of Donald Trump, a known climate skeptic, represents a significant setback for climate action. At the same time, a senior member of Azerbaijan’s COP29 team has been filmed trying to use the conference to secure oil deals for the host country.

Extreme drought, flooding, unprecedented storms, sea-level rise and wildfire are hitting the Global South especially hard bringing renewed attention to the longstanding calls for just transition and climate justice.

While the United Nations climate conferences, known as Conferences of the Parties (COP) have made strides in international climate policy, their efforts to address climate justice remain contentious and widely considered inadequate.

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