As fires rage across the Amazon rainforest, the world’s most industrialized countries are considering punishing Brazil through trade and other drastic measures for the country’s initially sluggish response to the issue. The forest is crucial in storing carbon dioxide, the abundance of which contributes to global warming. This heightened concern has put in sharp relief the priorities that developed and developing countries have toward climate change and the impact that current economic trends have on climate.

Energy consumption is a main driver of the carbon emissions that contribute to global warming. As such, how much energy a country consumes is a good indicator of how much it is affecting the environment. Energy research firm Enerdata notes that China leads the world in total energy consumption at 3.16 million metric tons oil equivalent (Mtoe), while the U.S. trails behind at about 2.26 Mtoe. Based on this, however, per capita energy use is higher in the U.S., as China has four times as many people but less than twice the energy use. India and Russia — two developing nations — are ranked third and fourth, respectively.

The International Energy Agency (IEA) states that energy demand last year grew by 2.3 percent, the fastest in this decade. This is driven by a myriad of factors, notably growing economies that require increased fuel consumption as well as greater electricity generation for cooling and heating. China, India and the U.S. alone accounted for 85 percent of the net increase in carbon dioxide emissions in 2018.

It is important to note that not all energy sources are equal in their contributions to carbon emissions. Coal is disproportionately responsible for the bulk of these emissions, with the IEA asserting the fuel to be the single source of global temperature increase. The major developing economies of China and India have driven this trend, with China responsible for nearly half of the global coal consumption. However, the renewable energy efforts of the world's second largest economic power and its transition from coal to natural gas have greatly reduced emissions.

Green progress

Many countries have made progress on shifting to renewable energy sources in recent years. These sources are important in generating power, often in conjunction with conventional sources. The falling costs of renewable energy infrastructure such as hydroelectric power plants and increased wind and solar capacities are making renewables an integral part of a nation's power mix, with coverage of 26 percent in China, 18 percent in the U.S. and 36 percent in Europe, according to Enerdata. In terms of overall coverage, however, Norway leads with 97 percent, while the Latin American countries of Brazil, Colombia and Venezuela each have over 70 percent.

Economy and climate in developing regions

For rapid developing regions, economic expansion and the type of model they adopt will play a large role in global climate patterns in the next two decades. The United States' Energy Information Agency (EIA) took a look in 2018 at how the economic growth of the regions of China, India, and Africa will determine their energy consumption.

The agency projects that China will be the world’s largest producer of energy-intensive goods in 2040, but the increase in energy use, if it transitions to a consumption-based economy, will be lower than if it were to continue in its current manufacturing, export-led model. By then, the agency estimates that India will have the largest population, but will have a lower per capita energy use than China, the U.S., and other industrialized nations. Africa will see higher growth in its manufacturing sector, but the higher assumed economic growth is expected to be lower than the emerging economies of India and Brazil.

As for the major country with a president who once stated that climate change is a hoax, the U.S. saw a 3.1-percent increase in carbon dioxide emissions last year, in a trend which up until 2017 saw decreasing emissions. But according to the IEA, emissions in the country still remain around 1990 levels in the largest absolute decline among all countries since 2000. Trump's attitude and policy toward climate change, however, have stirred international discontent, first with his withdrawal from the Paris Climate Agreement, and most recently with him skipping the G7 climate meeting three days ago in a snub to the leaders of the advanced industrialized nations present.

European nations have persisted in shaming and punishing nations that aren't heeding the call. The EU, before the G7 convened, threatened to block beef imports from Brazil if the country’s President Jair Bolsonaro did not address the fires in the Amazon rainforest. French President Emmanuel Macron even said his country may pull support for a trade deal that would eliminate tariffs between the EU and major economic powers in Latin America such as Brazil and Argentina. Bolsonaro had said that these efforts to "save" the Amazon treated Brazil like a "colony or no man's land." But after the EU trade threat, he sent 40,000 troops to combat the fires, many of which are set by farmers to clear away vegetation for agriculture.

When it comes to efforts by developed and developing economies to prevent runaway climate change, considerations for the environment and economic growth have turned trade – and economic interdependence – into a weapon.