'Free-riders' (that's us) threaten Paris climate action

The Paris climate agreement finalised in December last year heralded a new era for climate action. For the first time, the world’s nations agreed to keep global warming well below the critical threshold of 2℃.

This is vital for climate-vulnerable nations. Fewer than 4% of countries are responsible for more than half of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions. In a study published today in Nature Scientific Reports, we reveal just how deep this injustice runs.

Developed nations such as Australia, the United States, Canada, and European countries are essentially climate “free-riders”: causing the majority of the problem (through high greenhouse gas emissions), while incurring few of the costs (such as climate change’s impact on food and water).

Read an article on The Conversation by a trio of authors - “Australia, the US and Europe are climate ‘free-riders’: it’s time to step up.”

(Most literature about the commons, which Earth’s atmosphere is, will detail the loss of its value, usefulness and importance through abuse by free-riders and here Glenn Althor, PdD Candidate at The University of Queensland; James Watson, an Associate professor at the same university; and another Associate professor from the Queensland university, Richard Fuller, see Australia, the U.S., Canada and European countries as climate “free-riders” Robert McLean.)