ONE OF THE WORLD'S WEALTHIEST COUNTRIES IS BECOMING INCREASINGLY HOT AND UNINHABITABLE.

In the heat, trying to catch a bus at Kuwait City's Maliya station may be excruciating.

The hub serves about two-thirds of the city's buses, although schedules are inconsistent. The air is thick with fumes from bumper-to-bumper traffic. If space is limited, small shelters can accommodate a small number of people. Hundreds of people end up standing in the sun, sometimes shielded by umbrellas.

This is largely due to the fact that the majority of Kuwaitis and rich inhabitants are immune to the impacts of rising temperatures. Air conditioning can be found in homes, shopping centres, and automobiles, and those who can afford it often spend their summers in Europe. However, relying heavily on cooling systems increases the demand of fossil fuels, resulting in ever-higher temperatures.

Those who are unable to escape the heat, primarily labourers from developing nations, have it considerably worse. Despite the fact that the government restricts peak afternoon outdoor employment during the hottest months of the year, migrant workers are frequently observed toiling in the sun. According to a study published in Science Direct last year, the overall number of deaths doubles on particularly hot days, but it triples for non-Kuwaiti men, who are more prone to choose low-paying jobs.

Temperature records are being broken all around the world as a result of global warming, but Kuwait, one of the hottest places on the planet, is quickly becoming uninhabitable. The temperature on Earth reached 54 degrees Celsius in 2016, the highest reading in 76 years. They broke 50 degrees Celsius (122 degrees Fahrenheit) for the first time last year in June, weeks ahead of the usual peak weather. According to the Environment Public Authority, parts of Kuwait might turn up to 4.5 degrees hotter between 2071 and 2100 than the historical norm, rendering huge swathes of the country uninhabitable.

It's almost there for wildlife. In the hot summer months, dead birds appear on rooftops, unable to find shade or drink. People who have found stray cats near death from heat stress and dehydration are bringing them to veterinarians. Even wild foxes are fleeing a desert that no longer blossoms after rains in exchange for the few spots of green that remain in the city, where they are viewed as pests.

"This is why we're seeing less and less wildlife in Kuwait; most of them don't make it through the seasons," Tamara Qabazard, a Kuwaiti zoo and wildlife veterinarian, explained. "Last year, in the end of July, we had three to four days that were incredibly humid and hot, making it difficult to even walk outside your house, and there was no wind. Many of the animals began to have respiratory issues."

Kuwait is OPEC's fourth largest oil supplier, compared to countries such as Bangladesh and Brazil, who are trying to balance environmental issues with burgeoning populations and widespread poverty. With the world's third-largest sovereign wealth fund and a population of just over 4.5 million people, it is political inaction more than a lack of resources that is preventing the country from reducing greenhouse gas emissions and adjusting to a warmer future.

Kuwait's neighbours, who rely on crude exports as well, have committed to take more aggressive climate action. Saudi Arabia announced last year that it will strive to achieve net-zero emissions by 2060. The United Arab Emirates has chosen the year 2050 as its target. Despite the fact that they are still among the world's largest producers of fossil fuels, both countries claim to be attempting to diversify their economies by investing in renewables and cleaner energy. The next two United Nations climate conferences will be held in Egypt and the United Arab Emirates, as Middle Eastern nations recognise that rising temperatures and sea levels would affect them as well.

Kuwait, on the other hand, agreed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 7.4% by 2035 during the COP26 summit in November, a commitment that falls well short of the 45 percent reduction required to reach the Paris Agreement's stretch goal of limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius by 2030. The country's $700 billion sovereign wealth fund invests specifically to hedge against oil, but it has stated that profits would remain a focus as it transitions to more sustainable investments.

"Kuwait falls behind the rest of the Middle East in terms of climate action," said Manal Shehabi, an Oxford University academic guest who studies Gulf countries. "Climate promises in Kuwait are [still] much lower," according to the report, in a region that is far from doing enough to avoid catastrophic global warming.

The EPA's chief, Sheikh Abdullah Al-Ahmed Al-Sabah, told COP26 that his country was eager to help international climate measures. Kuwait has also promised to implement a "national low carbon strategy" by the middle of the century, but it hasn't specified what this will entail, and there has been no sign of activity on the ground.

One Twitter user responded by posting photos of withered palm palms and asked how his government had the audacity to show up.

Jassim Al-Awadhi is one of a younger generation of Kuwaitis that are increasingly concerned about the future of their country. The 32-year-old former banker resigned to campaign for a change that experts believe could be Kuwait's key to combating global warming: a shift in public perception regarding transportation. His goal is to encourage Kuwaitis to use public transportation, which currently solely consists of buses, which are mostly used by migrant labourers with low-paying occupations who have no choice but to endure the heat.

It's a long and winding road ahead. Though Kuwait boasts among of the world's highest carbon-dioxide emissions per capita, most Kuwaitis have never considered giving up their vehicles in a country where gasoline is cheaper than Coca-Cola and towns are built around autos.

The sole extensive poll of climate opinions in Kuwait was performed by the London School of Economics, which indicated that elderly citizens are sceptical of the urgency, with some speculating on a plan to stifle Gulf economies. Everyone over the age of 50 who participated in a public survey opposed plans to establish a metro system similar to those in Riyadh and Dubai. Climate change, on the other hand, is seen by the private sector as a problem that requires government leadership to address.

"When I tell companies that we need to do something, they say it's not their business," Al-Awadhi explained. "They make me feel like I'm the only one who has transportation issues."

Saleh Khaled Al-Misbah sees the cycle all too clearly. He was born in 1959 and recalls a time when homes lacked air conditioning but felt cool and shaded even in the hottest months. He used to spend months of the year playing outside and sleeping on the roof in the summers, but it's too hot anymore. Children spend the majority of the year indoors to avoid the scorching sun or hazardous pollution, which has resulted in vitamin D deficiency and respiratory illnesses.

According to Fitch Ratings, temperature fluctuations in the 2040s and 2050s will have an increasingly detrimental influence on Kuwait's creditworthiness. Despite the mounting dangers, squabbles between the Gulf's only elected parliament and a government nominated by the royal family have made it difficult to enact reforms, whether on climate or elsewhere.

"The political impasse in Kuwait is sucking the oxygen out of the atmosphere," said Samia Alduaij, a Kuwaiti environmental expert who works with the United Kingdom's Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science and the United Nations Development Programme. "This is a tremendously wealthy country with a little population, so it might be a lot better."

So far, little progress has been made on plans to produce 15% of Kuwait's power from renewable sources by 2030, up from a maximum of 1% presently. Oil is so plentiful that it is used to create energy as well as to fuel the 2 million cars on the road, polluting the air. Some power plants have transitioned to gas, a less polluting fossil fuel that can leak methane, a potent greenhouse gas. Electricity and water consumption, which are extensively subsidised by the government, are among the highest per capita in the world, and any suggestion of reducing those advantages has proven politically poisonous.

"Of course, that results in a lot of waste," Tarek Sultan, vice chairman of Agility Public Warehousing Co., said. Solar technologies that can provide viable solutions "are priced out of the competition when fossil-fuel generated electricity is subsidised," he said.

Countries will have to adjust to more extreme weather even if the world manages to cut emissions quickly enough to avoid catastrophic global warming. Experts think Kuwait's plan is now insufficient to keep the country livable.

If action is taken now, said Nadim Farajalla, director of the University of Beirut's climate change and environment programme, a lot can be accomplished in the next decades, but it will require protection against rising sea levels, greener cities, and less energy-intensive constructions. It must also concentrate on transportation, which is a major source of CO2.

The government's adaption strategy, according to Khaled Mahdi, secretary general of Kuwait's Supreme Council for Planning and Development, is in line with international policies. "We clearly identify roles and responsibilities, as well as all of the country's difficulties," he said, but he admitted that "implementation is always the most difficult issue."

Young Kuwaitis like Al-Awadhi aren't waiting for the government to act.

Kuwait Commute, his advocacy group, is starting small by advocating for bus stop shelters to protect passengers from the sun. Kuwait's largest bank, the National Bank of Kuwait, has financed a bus stop designed by three female graduates. They stay outside the decision-making process, as does much of the private sector.

"I think I'm finally making progress," Al-Awadhi remarked, hoping that by encouraging more Kuwaitis to board the bus, the service will improve. However, "The government must be the driving force behind it. It's the chicken that comes first."