Bangladesh leader Muhammad Yunus slams rich nations for burning up the planet at UN climate talks

Bangladesh's interim leader Muhammad Yunus (Courtesy: Reuters photo)

Bangladesh's interim leader Muhammad Yunus said Wednesday that world leaders shouldn't be negotiating at United Nations climate talks this year, and countries responsible for warming up the planet should instead just simply provide the funds to deal with the climate crisis.

“Why should there be a negotiation? You are causing the problem, then you solve it,” he told The Associated Press in an interview in Baku, Azerbaijan. “We will raise our voice and tell them it’s your fault, like what we did with colonialism.”

Yunus was chosen to head Bangladesh’s interim government after the nation’s longtime prime minister Sheikh Hasina resigned and fled abroad. Her resignation followed intense political turmoil earlier this year, with weeks of protests and clashes with security forces that killed nearly 300 people. Known as the “banker to the poorest of the poor,” Yunus was a longtime critic of Hasina.

Yunus said the climate negotiations, known as COP29, can be “humiliating” for poor countries. Yunus likened the talks to a "fish market" packed with people trying to get the best bargains. “That’s a very wrong perception of the whole thing," he said.

Bangladesh is among the most vulnerable countries in the world to climate change. Various scientific reports have found that the South Asian nation could lose up to 17% of its land to rising seas and is also at the brunt of increasingly more frequent and intense cyclonic storms.

But “everyone’s home is on fire,” said Yunus. He said rich nations, who developed their economies by burning planet-warming coal, oil and gas, are "not safe either. So they have to act in their self-interest as well as the interest of the whole planet.”

Yunus said he will dedicate his time as leader to clean energy projects in Bangladesh and protecting the population against climate change.

“Whether it’s an interim government or no government or a democratic government, whatever government is in power should be aware and has to work hard to stop that fire," he said.