The report contrasts the monetary debts owed by developing countries to their wealthy creditors with the rich world's climate debt. By using fossil fuels at a level far above a threshold for sustainable consumption, year after year the carbon debts of rich countries get bigger. It says the poorest states, the heavily indebted poor countries, are owed up to three times as much in carbon credits as they owe in dollars. The Federation argues for a policy to match the structural adjustment programmes imposed on many developing countries, which force their economies into line with Western norms. It says there is a need for sustainability adjustment programmes, which would compel rich countries to respect the common environment.
Some researchers still doubt that human activities are inducing rapid climate change.
They highlight the inconsistencies between the temperature records taken at the Earth's surface, which show rapid warming over the last century, and the data produced by satellite and balloon studies. Climate models generally predict that temperatures should increase in the upper air as well as at the surface if increased concentrations of greenhouse gases are causing the warming recorded at ground level.