Study calculates which countries owe the most for missing climate targets
A new framework assigns responsibility for closing the global emissions gap, with the U.S. and China facing the largest total obligations and wealthy nations better positioned to pay. The findings could reshape climate negotiations by clarifying who must fund deeper carbon cuts and removal projects beyond their own targets.
Originaltitel: Estimating countries' additional carbon accountability for closing the mitigation gap based on past and future emissions
<p>Quantifying fair national shares of the remaining global carbon budget has proven challenging. Here, we propose an indicator—additional carbon accountability—that quantifies countries’ responsibility for mitigation and CO<sub>2</sub> removal in addition to achieving their own targets. Considering carbon debts since 1990 and future claims based on countries’ emission pathways, the indicator uses an equal cumulative per capita emissions approach to allocate accountability for closing the mitigation gap among countries with a positive total excessive carbon claim. The carbon budget is exceeded by 576 Gigatonnes of fossil CO<sub>2</sub> when limiting warming below 1.5 °C (50% probability). Additional carbon accountability is highest for the United States and China, and highest per capita for the United Arab Emirates and Russia. Assumptions on carbon debts strongly impact the results for most countries. The ability to pay for this accountability is challenging for Iran, Kazakhstan and several BRICS+ members, in contrast to the G7 members.</p>