It is only right that advanced economies provide additional technological and financial assistance to help developing countries address the growing climate crisis. But climate solutions will not come solely from the West: developing countries also have an opportunity to lead this transformation.
LIBREVILLE – When Gabon ratified the 2015 Paris climate agreement, its real work was just beginning. The main challenge was to find ways to conserve the country’s natural environment and address the growing climate crisis, while not limiting economic opportunities for its people. Almost four years later, we have a deeper understanding of the crisis facing us, and the need to reconcile our country’s development with its climate response is greater and more urgent than ever.
Developing countries such as ours cannot follow the same development path that Western economies have taken over the last century and a half. We know the dire consequences of rapid industrialization for the global climate and environment, so we must find a different way to improve living standards.
First run on Project Syndicate — 18th October 2019.