Developing countries take the climate change bullet for the rest of us
Here's the 2012 Climate Change Vulnerability Index, produced by risk analysis firm Maplecroft, which shows the areas of the world that are most at risk from the impacts of climate change. Does it remind you of anything? Maybe a reverse map of the biggest climate change offenders? (This isn't the first time people have put this together, but the new data offer a nice illustration of the principle.)
Developed countries produce the most greenhouse gases, but developing countries take the brunt:
[I]t is not until you go all the way down 103 on the list, out of 193 nations, that you encounter the first major developed nation: Greece. The first 102 nations are all developing ones. Italy is next, at 124, and like Greece ranks relatively highly due to the risk of drought. The UK is at 178 and the country on Earth least vulnerable to climate change, according to Maplecroft, is Iceland.
"Large areas of north America and northern Europe are not so exposed to actual climate risk, and are very well placed to deal with it," explains Charlie Beldon, principal analyst at Maplecroft.
On a global scale, in terms of climate, you are the 1 percent.
Map reveals stark divide in who caused climate change and who's being hit, Guardian.