The world’s poor countries won’t sign on to a Global Climate Treaty in Paris this December if it doesn’t include assurances of cold, hard cash. That’s the message being put forth by Nozipho Joyce Mxakato-Diseko, a South African climate delegate who speaks for the G77+China, who described climate change as an “existential” threat for the developing world and a “matter of life and death.” Rich countries—the United States chief among them—will push back on this, wary of being indefinitely on the hook for hundreds of billions of dollars, but it’s hard to imagine the impending summit producing any sort of agreement that doesn’t involve financial guarantees. --The American Interest, 22 October 2015
