Analysis | Telling Countries Not to Be Poor Is Bad Climate Advice - The Washington Post
Climate Change: IMF Gives Bad Advice by Telling Nations to 'Stop Being Poor' - Bloomberg
Telling Countries Not to Be Poor Is Bad Climate Advice
The IMF recommends that the developing world fight global warming by avoiding debt and essentially raising taxes while rich states renege on promised aid.
Wealthy nations need to live up to their promises of aid to fight climate change.Photographer: Earvin Perias/AFP/Getty Images
If you hired a financial adviser and the first nugget of wisdom for you was “ Stop being poor,” then you would probably fire that adviser. Oh, and meanwhile, the adviser’s family owes you a fortune. That’s a bit how developing nations should feel about the IMF at the moment.
The International Monetary Fund and World Bank are holding their annual meetings this week in Marrakesh, Morocco. Ahead of those, the IMF released a paper arguing countries should balance fighting climate change — a pricey endeavor, at least at the front end — with avoiding debt. It may not seem like terrible advice, but it ignores some real-world complications.
Related Knowledge Center: Climate economics
Climate change is now a driver of the world’s economy. The impact is profound:
- Catastrophic weather events — hurricanes, floods, droughts, high temperatures — are more frequent and more extreme. The cost can be measured in both the initial damage caused and the longer-term impact on the economy.
- Vulnerable communities are increasing climate-related investments, hardening infrastructure and taking other protective measures.
- Investment in carbon capture and storage technologies is increasingly rapidly.
- Governments are making investments and crafting regulations to reduce emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases.
On top of all of this is the cost of uncertainty. As the Fourth National Climate Assessment, released in 2018 by the U.S. Global Change Research Program, says, “The assumption that current and future climate conditions will resemble the recent past is no longer valid.”