Esther Duflo

So most of the time when we think about climate change, we conjure these images of wildfires and storms and floods

But the reality is that temperature alone kills, and in particular right here in Africa.

We don't see it in the capital of France or the US because it's mostly happening in poor countries, which are already hot, and where citizens don't have the protection of air conditioning or office jobs.

By the best estimates, by the end of this century, in 2100, an extra six million people will die just because of increased temperature.

And all of these deaths will take place in low- or middle-income countries.

Every ton of carbon that we emit from the US, from India, from China, stays in the atmosphere for a very, very, very long time, contributes to the warming of the Earth, and therefore, kills people.

Now let's try, for the sake of concreteness, to put a dollar value on this live screenshot.

Now, I can see what you're thinking, the economies come, you know, we cannot really price life.

The reality is we are doing it all the time.

As individuals, we are thinking about, you know, the probability of dying in a bicycle accident and the cost of a helmet, and we kind of weigh one against the other.

And our governments also do it.

For example, when thinking about the cost of investment that can protect the lives of people on the highway, for example.

Mexico, which has about the world's average income, uses a value of a statistical life of about $2 million.

So using this number of $2 million for a value of a statistical life as a benchmark, we calculated the dollar value of the life lost because of emissions.

And the costs are staggering.

Every year, the greenhouse gas emissions of the OECD inflict a cost of $1.7 trillion, with a T, on low- and middle-income countries.

And the costs are the largest in the countries that are the poorest.

Take Niger, a country where the GDP is just shy of $650 a year.

the yearly damages from the OECD emission in Niger are $9,000.

Meanwhile, from COP to COP, rich countries are nick-and-diming the poor countries for the climate money, for mitigation, for adaptation.