"That doesn't negate that the burning of those fuels added...

"That doesn't negate that the burning of those fuels added trillions of excess CO2 into the atmosphere. CO2"

All the co2 that has been returned to the atmosphere, originally came from the atmosphere. It not new. it was always in the system.

I was in Bhutan a few weeks ago. It is hailed as being carbon neutral. There is no industry, unemployment is through the roof, most of the trucks are clapped out, people are very poor. There is not a bright future for youth, but hey, they are carbon neutral.

Perhaps the money spent on transition would be better spent on poverty, education, eradicating curable diseases, gender equality, and clean water.

83% of the worlds population live in developing countries. They are at the bottom of Maslows heirachy of needs. They don't care about anything other then getting up the ladder so they can eat regular meals, send their kids to school and live a better life. It is also true that developing countries are largely exempt from emissions reductions.

Global emissions went up 1.1% last year, and it was largely all China https://www.carbonbrief.org/analysis-growth-of-chinese-fossil-co2-emissions-drives-new-global-record-in-2023/

India have confirmed that over the next 6 years to 2030 their coal usage will increase by 25%. India's increase of 25% is approx 280mt of extra coal, against Australia's total coal usage of 92mt. To put that in perspective if Australia gets to net zero emissions from coal today, it will take just two years for India to replace the extra 92mt of coal. China uses 4500 Mt a year and their economy is growing at 5%. So China's is Increasing their coal usage by Australia's total consumption every 5 months.

It would seem that a comfortable life at the top of Maslow's hierarchy is sending us on a fools errand.