Two centuries of carbon
Warming is driven by cumulative emissions, everything ever burned, not just this year's. On that ledger, the United States and Europe together account for roughly half of all CO2 ever emitted. The entire African continent accounts for around 3 percent. Nigeria, with over 200 million people, sits under 1 percent.
Check it on Our World in Data's CO2 explorer. Per person, the gap is starker. An average American's yearly emissions are more than ten times an average Nigerian's.
The unfair equation
Now hold both facts at once. Nigeria contributed almost nothing to the problem, and ranks among the world's most climate-vulnerable countries in indexes like ND-GAIN, which score exposure against readiness.
Least responsible, most exposed. That is not a slogan. It is two datasets you have now seen, put side by side. This is what people mean when they call climate change a justice issue.
What justice demands
Rich countries promised 100 billion dollars a year in climate finance for poorer ones. Delivery has lagged for years. At COP27, countries agreed to a loss and damage fund. Money has been slow to arrive there too.
Knowing this record is your leverage. Nigerian youth can demand adaptation money that reaches drainage and schools rather than press releases, and can check whether it arrives, because you now know where the numbers live. That is the ambassador's job, and it starts with the assessment below.
Hold on to these
- Cumulative emissions are concentrated in early industrializers. Nigeria's share is under 1 percent.
- Nigeria pairs near-zero responsibility with some of the world's highest climate vulnerability.
- Climate finance has been promised repeatedly and delivered slowly. The record is checkable.
Check yourself
No grades here. If you can answer these out loud, you own the lesson.
- 1.What is the difference between this year's emissions and cumulative emissions, and why does the second one matter more?
- 2.Make the justice case for Nigeria in four sentences using numbers from this course.
- 3.If adaptation money reached your area, what would you want it spent on first, and how would you check?