Lifeline: Loss and damage

Current Amount Owed:

$33.7 TRILLION (G20)
$12.3 TRILLION (G7)

The Climate Clock’s Loss and Damage Lifeline tracks the climate debt (in $US) that wealthy, high-emitting G20 countries owe for the devastating impacts their excessive carbon emissions have caused to others, especially those in "developing" countries. Paying for Loss & Damage is a key climate lifeline, a clear climate solution to help the world meet its necessary climate goals.

overview

Devastating climate change impacts are not only going to occur in the future. They have already been occurring for decades and are now increasing in severity. Countries who have contributed the least amount to carbon emissions have experienced the greatest negative impacts, as the direct result of the higher emissions of wealthier countries, who have benefited greatly. As a result, a climate debt is owed to cover the real, material Loss & Damage costs caused by climate change. These funds are needed for impacted countries to remediate the damage, adapt to a changing climate, while also providing the finances to pursue pathways towards a more just, sustainable future.

Vanessa Nakate

IMPACTS

Heat waves, forest fires, droughts and massive floods caused by climate change have become daily headlines, forcing 26 million people into poverty each year. People living in poverty are twice as likely to work in sectors highly susceptible to extreme weather events, live in fragile housing in vulnerable areas, and have less support to recover and rebuild. In 2021 alone, 10 extreme weather events caused a worldwide economic loss of around $170.3 billion. Not only are people losing their homes and livelihoods, but also their culture, dignity and future opportunities. The vast majority of this heartbreak and devastation occurs in “developing” countries.

COST

These impacts have understood since 1979, when world leaders first recognized climate change as a serious problem at the World Climate Conference. Since then, carbon emissions have continued to rise, with devastating impacts, especially on the developing world. The economic burden on developing countries from the damage caused by climate change has become unsustainable. According to researchers at the Center for Global Development, by 2019 the G20 countries had accumulated $29.7 trillion in climate debt, most of it owed to the "developing" countries. Once the 2020 data on CO2 emissions is taken into account, This debt comes to $33.7 trillion ($12.3 trillion for G7). And unless world leaders commit to radically reduce carbon emissions and transition to clean energy, that debt is expected to rise to ~$42T by 2030 (~$15.6T for G7).

OUR GOAL

This Lifeline is a tool the Climate Justice movement can use to demand that the Loss and Damage Climate Risk Finance framework be finalized at COP27 this November, and to secure trillions of dollars in climate finance for the “developing” world over the next five years.

What does the number mean?

The amount of money (US$) G20 countries owe in climate debt to date, since 1979. Calculation is based on the Carbon Liability Model from the Center for Global Development’s report on Valuing Climate Liabilities: Calculating the Cost of Countries’ Historical Damage from Carbon Emissions to Inform Future Climate Finance Commitments by Lee Robinson, Ian Mitchell, and Atousa Tahmasebi. Updated data from 2020 on historical CO2 emissions were sourced from Our World in Data.