Great news, via Scientific American:
Delegates agreed in a late-night negotiating blitz to hold a formal discussion on compensation for irreparable climate damages, marking a first for the annual U.N. climate summit following decades in which rich nations blocked the topic from being tabled.
The highly contested issue hinges on getting wealthy countries—who have contributed most of the emissions warming the planet—to provide money to poorer ones that most often bear the consequences in the form of extreme storms, heat, drought and rising seas. By placing it on the agenda Sunday, negotiators agreed to discuss the topic over the next two weeks of climate talks.
The increasing severity of climate impacts has elevated the call for some form of reparations. But the developed world has long resisted such discussions, igniting fears that continued intransigence could derail the talks before they even began.
While I feel that wealthy countries should absolutely be responsible for paying reparations, it's also incumbent on the fossil fuel industry and large polluters who profited while destroying the planet to pay up.
The Guardian puts this in perspective:
Tax the fossil fuel companies. Make them pay their fair share.
