All too often, when it comes to the question of who should bear responsibility for averting the climate crisis, we find ourselves weighing the balance between the individual and politics. Is it important to consume less, to fly less, to eat meat? Or will none of this achieve anything as long as politicians don't make laws or implement them? As long as companies exploit us so that we can't even afford fair, organic, and slow production? In this balancing act, we often forget another imbalance – the one between the Global North and the Global South [1]. While we are still talking about averting the climate crisis and are just beginning to feel the effects, climate collapse has long been a harsh reality in other parts of the world.
The term "loss and damage" was explicitly introduced for the first time at COP17 in 2007 in connection with the call for increased adaptation measures. Only last year – 16 years later – was the fund finally launched. However, contributions are voluntary, and only a fraction of the required amount has been pledged.
The rich, industrialized countries of the Global North have historically borne the main responsibility for the climate crisis and continue to drive it forward today with their overwhelmingly high energy and resource consumption. Germany ranks fourth on the list of historical emissions, even though it only accounts for about 1% of the world's population. Not only is resource consumption in the Global North four times the safe per capita limit for the planet, but these resources also largely come from the Global South. But historical responsibility does not end with energy and resource consumption. Industrialized countries in the Global North in general, but Germany in particular, were only able to accumulate these enormous CO2 emissions through their colonization of the Global South. The structural destabilization that resulted from massive violence and influence still has an impact today and is manifesting itself, among other things, in floods, storms, and droughts in the affected areas. It is no coincidence that the climate crisis is hitting the Global South harder; it is a question of these countries' ability to adapt. This vulnerability is due to the fact that they have benefited least from the economic processes driving the climate crisis and therefore have less capacity and resources to adapt and respond, which in turn leads to an exacerbation of social and economic inequalities.
The global trading system, with its unequal terms of trade and its foundation on neo-colonial power imbalances, enables the Global North to extract over $10 trillion annually from the Global South. That's a 1 with 13 zeros and 30 times the amount that countries in the Global South receive in "development aid." This could end extreme poverty worldwide 70 times over. The financial system dominated by the Global North also severely disadvantages countries in the Global South, making it more difficult and expensive for them to borrow. This leads to unequal capacities to cope with the impacts of the climate crisis.
Instead of preparing themselves for new environmental conditions and building social and economic infrastructures, formerly colonized countries are busy paying off debts or even just the interest on their debts.
A vivid example of the absurdity of this debt distribution is Haiti. After the 1804 revolution and the subsequent declaration of independence from France, Haiti was forced to compensate the French colonial rulers for their "losses." Haiti agreed to this demand in 1825, but the debt was not fully repaid until 1947.
In total, the Global North has received over $4 trillion in interest payments from the Global South since the 1980s alone.
A very vivid and impressive counterexample for dealing with transnational debt is the debt relief for Germany after World War II, which enabled the country's "economic miracle." If the country responsible for World War II could have its debts canceled back then, then it can certainly also be forgiven to enable a just transition in the Global South!
Furthermore, the South's indebtedness to the North leads to greater inequality, extractivism, exploitation of natural resources, unequal exchange, and economic dependence, preventing indebted countries from determining their own development paths. "Ecological debt" can be a means of denouncing the past and present behavior of countries in the Global North, but also of transnational corporations. The goal of this accusation is, among other things, to force the accused countries to acknowledge their mistakes, pay reparations or compensation, act differently in the future, and treat the countries of the Global South equally. Climate reparations must be more than material financial reparations; they are a lengthy process of transnational justice.
A definition of climate reparations was proposed by Maxine Burkett, who identifies three crucial elements. First, it requires an apology and acknowledgement of climate guilt, but also reparation and restitution of the numerous financial, social, and environmental debts incurred by countries in the Global North to those in the Global South during the colonial past and through contemporary neo-colonial dynamics. Second, it requires financial or other compensation that gives this apology actual or symbolic weight. Climate reparations are strategies and actions taken by a state to redress past and present systematic injustices related to the climate crisis and to restructure the (global) economy in a way that ensures climate justice, well-being, and equality for all people worldwide. Third, it requires a commitment by the perpetrator not to repeat the criminal offense, also known as the "guarantee of non-repetition." Climate justice must incorporate issues of equity and justice in addressing climate change and cannot be viewed as something that takes place outside of a system that simultaneously perpetuates discrimination. A serious debate would therefore have to be followed by a change in the system so that no further harm is caused. In concrete terms, this means an economy beyond growth and extractivism and a society not based on an imperial way of life.
The climate crisis is a matter of global justice and requires collective action, looking not only to the future to mitigate its impacts but also to the past to address its root causes and redress historical injustices.
[1]
Dividing the global community into two groups of countries, each located at the top or bottom of the map, does not do justice to the complexity of global relations, especially historically. These terms should therefore be understood as a rough summary of structural power relations.
Climate debt and reparations
Building blocks for climate justice
Debt relief for countries in the Global South and reparations for the climate catastrophe caused by the Global North – now!
This article was written for our "Future for All" section of the economic-philosophical magazine Agora42. This text was part of issue 1/2025, "Responsibility."
Image source: Oliver Kornblihtt/Mídia NINJA ( CC BY-NC 2.0 )