The world's fight for 'climate justice'

The world's fight for 'climate justice' Getty Images Developing nations are calling for justice on climate change, largely caused by richer nations Some of the world’s poorest and lowest carbon-emitting countries are suffering the most from climate change. "A very wealthy and very small minority of the world's countries and corporations have been the principal cause of climate change, while the adverse effects of the climate crisis fall first and foremost on the poorest majority," says Yeb Saño, executive director of Greenpeace Southeast Asia and previously a climate negotiator for the Philippines. Getty Images It is wrong to compare "luxury emissions" from high-carbon lifestyles in rich countries with "survival emissions" in poorer ones, says Farhana Sultana One issue, though, is that the Paris Agreement was designed so that countries would set their own voluntary climate pledges. Many poorer countries haven't had the chance to amass wealth from burning huge amounts of fossil fuels, but are now being asked to give them up "You are talking about a global crisis without setting up a target for each country based on their fair share," says Harjeet Singh, senior advisor on climate impacts at Climate Action Network International, a consortium of non-profits which pushes for progress at UN climate talks. "What 'loss and damage' recognises is that that's beyond adaptation," says Harpreet K Paul, a human rights lawyer currently undertaking a PhD in climate justice at the University of Warwick.