The Poorest Will Suffer If We Force Renewable Energy On The Developing World

GWPF

YESTERDAY, the UK announced a contribution of about £720m to the Green Climate Fund, a UN initiative designed to help poor countries cope with climate change. It is right for rich countries to assist the developing world in their efforts to adapt to climate impacts, but they should not burden them with costly decarbonisation schemes.

Past international climate finance programmes, however, suggest that a pragmatic approach is unlikely. Instead of focusing aid on schemes that increase the resilience of poor countries to the recurrent impacts of the climate (adaptation measures), the rich world is guilty of a vast misallocation of resources towards costly renewable energy programmes, with disastrous consequences for the world’s poorest.   .................This emphasis on decarbonisation over adaptation is damaging, diverting vital resources away from measures that can lift people out of poverty and save lives. It also ignores the overriding need to help poor countries become more resilient to climate impacts, whether these are exacerbated by global warming in the future or not."