Analyzing the Role of Poor and Developing Nations in Global Climate Agreements

Increasingly, countries are gathering to address concerns surrounding climate change. The 2015 United Nations Conference of Parties, COP21, saw the emergence of a landmark agreement for collective global action. The tagline arising from this agreement was "Long live the planet. Long live humanity. Long live life itself." Indeed, this agreement should positively benefit the planet, but comes with myriad costs associated with such efforts. Just how these agreements are funded, managed, and regulated are crucial to understanding the broader impacts on individual parties. This paper evaluates the impacts of trade-offs made when considering long-term climate goals over short-term well-being for individual nations and citizens. The paper identifies considerations for officials in countries facing issues associated with energy poverty when crafting global climate agreements (GCAs). The primary question this paper asks is: “What role, if any, should poorer nations play in global climate agreements?” After reviewing the status of global CO2 emissions and the efficacy of GCAs, we argue that involving developing countries in GCAs is not beneficial in accomplishing global CO2 mitigation goals. In fact, when low-income countries are party to GCAs their role is either purely symbolic or works counter to other development goals.