On climate, India can tap Trump's transactionalism

The West thinks it has been doing too much for the climate. The poor nations aren't moved. The new leader of the West, Trump, rejects pious posturing; he operates like a sharp trader. How does India intend to negotiate with him?

- Shreerupa Mitra

The West thinks it has been doing too much for the climate. The poor nations aren't moved. The new leader of the West, Trump, rejects pious posturing; he operates like a sharp trader. How does India intend to negotiate with him? With the shifting tides of geopolitics, the art of dignified complaining at multilateral forums may soon become obsolete, as the first principles of the climate treaty face likely dismissal. Conventional arguments must now yield to market-driven pragmatism, as the shrinking space for moral appeals in climate discourse is further eclipsed by the transactional priorities of the incoming American administration.

The story of climate crisis negotiations is, above all, a testament to the power of the first-mover advantage—an advantage that has perpetuated itself across nations and within their borders. Between 1751 and 2017, wealthy nations consumed more than 65% of the planet's shared carbon budget, leaving behind a staggering ecological deficit. While their citizens suffered through the smog of industrial revolutions, they secured an affluent future for generations to come. Now, as former colonies with vast, impoverished populations seek their own ascent—pollution an unavoidable byproduct—the carbon space they need to manoeuvre has all but vanished.

The Global South—represented by India, the African Union, China, and other emerging economies—contends that the West bears an "emissions debt", a moral and historical obligation to provide not just funds for mitigation efforts but also compensation for past damages and resources for adaptation to the escalating impacts of the climate crisis. This tension forms the crux of the deep fault line dividing wealthy and developing nations in negotiations at multilateral forums.