Recently published data shows that developing economies will have to implement a 60 percent per capita emissions reduction for the world to reach a target 50 percent global cut by 2050.
A 60 percent emissions cut would severely hamstring oppressed nations—in particular those coping with the legacies of colonialism. The reductions would require costly changes from economies already struggling to stay afloat in global capitalist markets. Even “minor” suggestions such as switching from wood-burning stoves to more efficient models could cost a total of $6 billion, a crippling sum for impoverished nations.
Capitalist nations have ransacked and raped the environment to maximize profits. Their rampages ran unabated; their plundered wealth went unshared. Unwilling to increase their own reduction targets or provide substantial assistance to developing economies to implement reductions, the major capitalist powerhouses expect others to share responsibility for the problems they created. The profit motive prevents the necessary steps to reverse climate change: drastically slashing emissions in developed nations and assisting oppressed countries in doing the same.
