As India has sacrificed 75 per cent of its fair share to balance the excess emissions of over-emitting countries, the country is entitled to receive compensation for this share
‘Loss and damage’ refers to the negative consequences of climate change on human societies and the natural environment.
Since climate change is affecting the frequency, intensity and geographical distribution of extreme weather, the result is loss and damage — economic and non-economic.
This damage is mostly borne by those countries whose contribution to carbon emissions has historically not been very high.
Keeping this in mind, a study published in Nature Sustainability highlighted that the Global North owes India $57 trillion in compensation through 2050 for climate-related damages.
This study comes in the wake of the recently announced ‘Loss and Damage’ Fund (which was agreed upon at COP27). The country has only consumed less than a quarter of its fair share of the remaining global 1.5-degree carbon budget.
The remaining carbon budget is the remaining carbon dioxide emissions that can still be emitted while limiting anthropogenic global warming to 1.5°C.
As India has sacrificed 75 per cent of its fair share to balance the excess emissions of over-emitting countries, the country is entitled to receive compensation for this share.
The atmospheric levels of carbon dioxide are estimated to be 415 parts per million (this is the concentration of CO2 in the atmosphere) and global temperatures have already risen 1.1°C over preindustrial levels.
But all countries have not contributed to this rise. The researchers calculated the fair share of the total carbon budget of 168 countries based on the population size.
Each country’s fair share was compared with their historical emissions from 1960. Their analysis showed that all Global North countries are responsible for 91 per cent of the cumulative overshoot between 1960 and 2019.
The United Kingdom, for instance, has used 2.5 times its fair share while the US has used more than four times its fair share.
Overall, the US should provide a cumulative compensation of $80 trillion, the European Union and the United Kingdom owe $46 trillion, followed by the remaining countries of the Global North, whose cumulative compensation was estimated to be $44 trillion in 2050.
On the other hand, India ($57 trillion) and other countries in sub-Saharan Africa ($45 trillion) should receive half of the total financial compensation. China is owed $15 trillion.
While the study focuses only on compensation that is owed for atmospheric appropriation, this should be considered additional to broader questions about the costs of transition, adaptation and damages.
The study provides a ‘proportional compensation scheme’, which could help low-emitting countries decarbonise their economies and sacrifice parts of their fair shares to keep global temperatures below 1.5°C.
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