Under the leadership of Prime Minister Tshering Tobgay, Bhutan is charting a unique path in global climate policy, becoming the world’s first truly carbon-negative country, and doing so with a development model that places human well-being at its heart. In an exclusive interview with media, Tobgay emphasised that his country’s ecological success is rooted not only in forests and clean energy, but in a deeply held conviction that progress must be measured in terms of happiness, not just economic growth.
Bhutan, a small landlocked kingdom on the eastern edge of the Himalayas with a population of roughly 750,000 — about half of whom are subsistence farmers — has long pursued a development philosophy centered on “Gross National Happiness” (GNH). For Tobgay, GNH is not a sentimental slogan but a guiding principle: “Economic growth cannot be detrimental to the happiness and wellbeing of our people,” he said. Rather than turning to rapid industrialisation, Bhutan has reinforced environmental protections, tightened regulations on water, air and land quality, and embedded nature preservation in its legal and social structures.
One of the most striking achievements is Bhutan’s carbon balance. Around 72 percent of the country is forested — a constitutional requirement — making Bhutan a powerful carbon sink. According to Tobgay, the country sequesters around five times more carbon dioxide than it emits, rendering it clearly “nature positive, carbon negative.” Yet despite this progress, Bhutan is not immune to climate threats: rising mountain temperatures are accelerating glacial melting, increasing the risk of flooding, landslides, and infrastructure damage, especially for its road networks.
Graduating from the United Nations’ “least-developed country” list in 2023 marked a milestone for Bhutan, reflecting progress in poverty reduction, education, and life expectancy. But this transition came with a cost: less access to climate aid and technical assistance precisely as climate shocks intensify. Tobgay argues that richer nations must step up. While Bhutan punches above its weight on climate mitigation, he believes the developed world — which bears far greater responsibility for emissions — has both a moral and practical duty to reduce its own carbon footprint and support vulnerable countries.
Bhutan’s fighting spirit on climate also extends to international diplomacy. At the COP29 summit, it founded an alliance with other low-carbon nations like Panama, Suriname, and Madagascar to amplify the influence of countries that are contributing positively to the global climate balance. Tobgay has called for richer nations to compensate for the opportunities these countries forgo in prioritising ecological sustainability over more conventional models of growth: “We want our contributions and foregone opportunities to be acknowledged and compensated.”
Underpinning all this is Bhutan’s constitutional commitment to conservation. The constitution mandates that at least 60 percent of national land must remain forested in perpetuity, and obliges every citizen to contribute to environmental protection. For Tobgay, this is not just policy — it is a spiritual imperative, rooted in Bhutanese Buddhist beliefs that regard forests and water bodies as living entities where deities reside.
Tobgay’s message is as clear as it is bold: “If such small developing countries can do it, there’s no excuse that larger countries cannot play bigger roles.” In his vision, GDP is a tool, not the goal — the real objective must be the health, happiness and longevity of people and future generations.
Bhutan’s approach invites a rethinking of how nations grow: the Himalayan kingdom may be small, but its ambition could hold big lessons for the rest of the world.
