Bhutan PM on leading the first carbon-negative nation: ‘The wellbeing of our people is at the centre of our agenda’ | Climate crisis

TThe wealthy Western countries most responsible for the climate crisis would improve the health and happiness of their citizens by prioritizing environmental conservation and sustainable economic growth, according to the prime minister of Bhutan, the first country in the world to have a negative carbon footprint.

Bhutan, a Buddhist democratic monarchy and biodiversity hotspot high in the eastern Himalayas, is one of the world’s most ambitious climate leaders thanks to its people’s connection to nature and a strong policy focus on improving gross national happiness rather than GDP alone, Tshering Tobgay told the Guardian.

“Even with our limited resources and enormous geographic challenges, we have managed to prioritize climate action, social progress, cultural preservation and environmental conservation, because the happiness and well-being of our people and our future generations are at the center of our development agenda,” Tobgay said in an interview. “If we succeed, rich, developed countries with far more resources and income can – and must – do far more to reduce their emissions and tackle the climate crisis. »

As the UN climate summit enters its final days, Bhutan’s climate commitment stands out as among the most ambitious with mitigation efforts across all sectors of the economy, including increasing energy production from hydropower, solar, wind, distributed energy resource systems and piloting green hydrogen, as well as improved efficiency and regulation for transport, buildings and agriculture.

Bhutan is a landlocked country sandwiched between India and China, with a population of 750,000, about half of whom are subsistence farmers. In 2023, it became only the seventh country to graduate from the UN’s least developed country (LDC) category, thanks to significant progress over the past three decades since the transition to democracy in areas such as poverty reduction, education and life expectancy.

He did this not by destroying environmental regulations to spur economic growth, but rather by toughening standards and prioritizing air, water and soil quality. “For us, gross national happiness is the goal, and GDP is just a tool that means economic growth cannot harm the happiness and well-being of our people,” Tobgay said.

But while graduating from LDC status represents an important milestone, it has also reduced access to international climate finance, aid and technical assistance – even as climate shocks such as floods, drought and erratic rainfall have increased.

Bhutan has contributed negligibly to global warming and 72% of the territory is forested, making it a crucial carbon sink. It is among the few countries whose plans are fully or almost in line with the Paris Agreement’s goal of limiting global warming to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels, according to the Climate Action Tracker.

Bhutan’s focus on environmental and climate protection is not solely driven by its commitment to the United Nations climate process. The Bhutanese believe that their deities reside in all parts of the natural environment, which means that forests and certain bodies of water are off-limits and mountaineering is prohibited. Bhutan is home to the highest mountain ever climbed, Gangkhar Puensum, which rises to over 7,500 meters above sea level.

An entire article in the young democracy’s constitution is devoted to environmental protection, requiring that at least 60 percent of the country be covered in forests. It mandates the government and every citizen to contribute to the protection of the natural environment, the conservation of rich biodiversity and the prevention of all forms of ecological degradation.

Tobgay said: “We sequester about five times the amount of carbon dioxide that we emit. We take care of our biodiversity, take care of our forests. We are nature positive, but carbon negative. Yet because we are a landlocked mountainous country, we bear the brunt of the impacts of climate change.”

Mountain ranges are warming faster than the global average, causing Bhutan’s glaciers to melt and lakes to overflow. Flooding has already displaced farming communities and the cost of maintaining roads has more than doubled.

“The developed world must do more to fulfill its moral and legal obligations. They must help developing countries adapt and reduce their emissions by providing finance and resource and technology transfers, but above all, they must reduce their own emissions,” Tobgay said. “In small countries like Bhutan, we are actually doing far more than our fair share. The effects of climate change are disastrous, even for rich countries.”

Last year at Cop29, Bhutan led the launch of an alliance with Panama, Suriname and Madagascar, three other carbon negative or carbon neutral countries, with the aim of gaining greater recognition and influence at UN climate negotiations for their outsized contribution to global climate action.

“In all discussions about climate change, the focus is on promises for the future and not on actual outcomes,” Tobgay said. “We want our contributions and missed opportunities to be recognized and compensated. This would encourage other countries not only to aspire, but to actually work towards carbon neutrality as quickly as possible. Too often, bad behavior is recognized and rewarded and good behavior is not seen, it is taken for granted. We must reverse this trend.”

Leaders of the so-called G-Zero countries held discussions at the United Nations General Assembly in New York in September and agreed on an inaugural summit in Bhutan next year to showcase and share climate solutions and send a message to the developed world, which is lagging behind.

“You may be an industrialized country, you may have reaped the rewards and spread the benefits of industrialization across the world, but now is the time to take stock of where we are. You don’t need to reverse industrialization and economic growth, but you need to make them sustainable,” Tobgay said.

“What is GDP for? Reducing carbon emissions for what? It must serve for the happiness and well-being of your people. The Earth will survive, whatever we do. The urgency of controlling global warming, of fighting climate change, concerns us, the people, now and our future generations.

“We take care of our people, our economy is growing and, at the same time, we have been able to take care of our environment. If such small developing countries can do this, there is no excuse why big countries cannot play a bigger role. After all, they are the leaders of the world.”