Sure, it’s going to cost money to transition to a greener economy, but the truth is that we can’t put a price on our survival

<p>When figures are used to propose solutions to big problems, the result is often sufficiently dizzying that, in practice, the headlines go unnoticed or are soon forgotten.</p> <p>I recently read a report by a former World Bank executive in which she estimated it would cost&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2023/08/07/over-a-1-trillion-needed-for-developing-nations-climate-transition.html" rel="noopener ugc nofollow" target="_blank">$1 trillion annually for developing countries to transition toward low-emission economies</a>. This is a fundamental issue: these nations argue that they have the right to use fossil fuels to industrialize,&nbsp;<a href="https://ourworldindata.org/co2-emissions" rel="noopener ugc nofollow" target="_blank">just as the West has done over the last 150 years</a>, and&nbsp;<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/sep/21/worlds-richest-1-cause-double-co2-emissions-of-poorest-50-says-oxfam" rel="noopener ugc nofollow" target="_blank">continues doing today</a>.</p> <p>The problem with this argument is, firstly, if they do, the climate emergency will turn into a full-scale global disaster, making huge areas of the planet uninhabitable, with particular impact on less-industrialized countries.</p> <p><a href="https://medium.com/enrique-dans/sure-its-going-to-cost-money-to-transition-to-a-greener-economy-but-the-truth-is-that-we-can-t-e2cd1b85bbc4"><strong>Learn More</strong></a></p>