Nepal Emits 0.01% of Greenhouse Gases but Faces a 6 Trillion-Won Climate Bill

Nepal contributes less than 0.1% of global greenhouse-gas emissions, but a flash flood has left thousands of casualties and a recovery bill estimated at $4 billion to $5 billion. The cost equals roughly 10% of the country’s gross domestic product.

The imbalance is stark in cumulative emissions. Since 1750, the United States has produced 24% of the global total, followed by China at 15%, Russia at 6.7%, Germany at 5.2% and the United Kingdom at 4.4%. South Korea ranks around 14th, with 20.7 billion tonnes and a 1.12% share. Nepal’s cumulative emissions amount to 232 million tonnes, or 0.01%.

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The fact that Nepal, Pakistan and Pacific island states, which bear little responsibility for emissions, face greater risks and damage shows the unequal structure of the climate crisis.

The difference also appears in current per-person emissions. Nepal produced 0.63 tonnes per person in 2024, compared with 11.3 tonnes in South Korea, about 18 times less. Yet climate-related harm falls more heavily on countries such as Nepal, which have fewer resources and contributed little to the problem.

Lee Joon-yi, a Pusan National University professor and a lead author of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s Sixth Assessment Report, said Nepal, Pakistan and Pacific island states face greater risks despite their limited responsibility for emissions. He added that South Korea is also a responsible country, although no individual nation could be held solely responsible for Nepal’s disaster.

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South Korea is also a responsible country.

The issue could move into the courts. The International Court of Justice issued an advisory opinion last July stating that countries have obligations under international law to respond to the climate crisis and could incur state responsibility if they fail to meet them. The opinion has been interpreted as leaving room for climate cases between states, while most of the roughly 3,000 climate lawsuits now pending worldwide involve young people, citizens or environmental groups suing their own governments.

South Korea has recently revised its Framework Act on Carbon Neutrality and set a new emissions-reduction path for 2031 to 2049. Climate activists criticize the linear reduction approach as shifting more of the burden onto future generations. Lawyer Choi Chang-min said the ICJ opinion made clear that countries could face restoration or compensation claims if they failed to meet their obligations, and that more lawsuits could follow as losses increase.

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The advisory opinion of the International Court of Justice makes clear that a country may have to restore losses or pay compensation to an affected country if it fails to fulfill its obligations.