Rich nations have not contributed enough to fight climate change

Rich nations have failed to live up to their commitments last year and have not contributed to the promised $ 100 billion to poor countries in the fight against climate change. The information was announced by the head of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). It is the richer countries that are currently under great pressure to invest more in environmental protection, as the COP26 climate summit is approaching, at which leaders are to agree on how much money each country must set aside to combat climate change. They will also conclude agreements on faster progress in reducing emissions. Last year, rich countries were supposed to contribute to the poorer countries just the above-mentioned hundred billion, but according to the OECD, they did not meet this commitment due to the covid. In previous years, 2018 and 2019, according to available data, they contributed $ 78.3 billion and $ 79.6 billion. Although the exact amount that states contributed to other countries last year is not yet known, it is clear that the commitment has not materialized due to the pandemic. "Data will not be available until next year, but it is clear that countries have invested more in local economic development and climate commitments have not been met," OECD Secretary-General Mathias Cormann told Reuters. In addition, there are fears that the climate summit will not succeed because of mistrust between countries. Money from previous years went mainly to reducing emissions in developing countries, and only a quarter of the contributions went directly to combating climate change. However, developing countries claim that without the support of richer neighbors, they cannot invest in the fight against global warming and thus not reduce emissions themselves, nor will they have sufficient infrastructure to protect the population from increasing storms, floods or rising sea levels. The European Union has therefore pledged this week to provide more money to developing countries for this investment and called on the United States to step up its efforts and help more poor countries.