Series - Editorial Fellowship: Climate Change and Human Health

Should rich countries pay for climate-related health crises in Global South countries? Humanitarian organizations say yes – but it’s complicated

Author Brennan Doherty
An international fund devoted to ‘loss and damages’ could compensate Global South countries for a multitude of climate costs, including health costs.

Why It Matters

Canada promises to be a leader in addressing the climate crisis, yet its emissions are contributing to health-related climate disasters in the Global South.

This journalism is supported by the Future of Good editorial fellowship on climate change and human health, supported by Manulife. See our editorial ethics and standards here.

In a scathing speech early at COP27, Barbados Prime Minister Mia Mottley paraded the biggest geopolitical climate elephant in the room for all the world to see.

The whole planet is well on track to surpass 3 C above current temperatures by 2100. However, many poor Global South countries are suffering the most from climate catastrophes caused by the immense economies of the United States, China, Canada, and other wealthy states. Ironically, those Global South countries largely created the industrial backbone of the world’s largest polluters.  

“We were the ones whose blood, sweat, and tears finan

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