Biden announces new effort to cut emissions as low-income countries seek more aid

William Brangham:

But developing countries want the world to focus on a different picture, a picture of devastation happening here and now, like tropical cyclones in Bangladesh, already sending rising sea levels rushing through communities, a an ongoing deluge that could force tens of millions of people to move, or that in Pakistan earlier this year, a long deadly heat wave and drought that left farmers desperate for water.

But then, in a sharp turn, came a disastrous monsoon season, where rains flooded around a third of the country and killed at least 1,700 people. Roads and bridges were lost, farms submerged, over two million homes destroyed, the price tag estimated at $30 billion.

These countries and many others say they have done little to cause the pollution that makes these disasters worse and that they owe compensation for this destruction. At this year’s COP 27 conference, United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres echoed this call for so-called loss and damage.