During the ongoing United Nations climate summit in Egypt, developing nations have been excoriating the United States and other industrialized nations for causing climate change and demanding reparations, reported The New York Times on Thursday.
This is “a call that some European leaders have begun to answer with monetary pledges,” squeezing U.S. President Joe Biden to do the same, said the report.
French President Emmanuel Macron was quoted as saying that Europe was already helping poorer countries, and that other Western nations needed to do more. “We are the only ones paying,” he said.
“Pressure must be put on rich non-European countries, telling them, ‘You have to pay your fair share,'” Macron said, in a not-too-veiled reference to the Americans, according to the report.
But with control of the U.S. Congress still unclear after Tuesday’s midterm elections, there is little that Biden can offer, said the report.
“If Republicans are in charge come January, there will be less money, not more, to help foreign nations cope with climate change, as well as fresh efforts to slow down or block the president’s climate agenda,” the report noted.
