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The idea that climate change is solely an environmental issue misses the bigger picture - '''climate change represents and perpetuates power imbalances across the world'''. The industrialised nations of the Global north emit about '''80%''' of global GHGs<ref>"Climate change is not just an environmental issue – it’s about justice", retrieved from: https://europa.eu/eyd2015/en/friends-earth-europe/posts/climate-change-human-rights</ref>, while developing nations from the Global south face the worst impacts. In fact, global warming poses a threat to the survival of some vulnerable southern countries - rising sea levels will contaminate the drinking water, damage the agriculture and infrastructure, and threaten biodiversity in the coastal areas, making them uninhabitable. It is even predicted that entire cities, such as Rotterdam and Sydney could flood. Similarly, some islands in Africa, Asia and South America are facing the risk of disappearing under water. The regions that will be most affected by the rising sea levels are east, south east and south Asia.<ref>"Sea-Level Rise and Impacts in Africa, 2000 to 2100. Application of the DIVA model to Africa.", retrieved from: https://www.weadapt.org/knowledge-base/economics-of-adaptation/impacts-of-sea-level-rise-in-africa</ref>
So, the debate centres on the obligation of industrialised states - due to '''historical responsibility''' - and international organisations to provide development assistance to developing countries and to invest in energy, proportionate to what they emit and use. On the one hand we have "the West", mainly responsible historically for emitting the most GHGs. Even though they share a set of common values, when it comes to climate justice, the ideas and policies of the EU and the USA vary widely. In 2015, USA's GHGs totaled 6,587 million metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalents making it the second largest GHG’s emitter. <ref>Article “Inventory of U.S. Greenhouse Gas Emissions and Sinks”, retrieved from: https://www.epa.gov/ghgemissions/inventory-us-greenhouse-gas-emissions-and-sinks</ref> Moreover, the current Trump administration supports the fossil fuel industry and has recently '''dropped out of the Paris Agreement''', which could severely weaken the US’ environmental policy and thereby also the '''chances of mitigating the effects of climate change.'''
