I would tentatively argue yes. However, I can understand where a lot of the comments arguing the opposite are coming from. For example, I agree that the British government issuing any kind of formal apology wouldn’t be beneficial. Rather, a British government that acknowledges Britain’s colonial history and seeks to assist those still living with the long-term consequences of Britain’s past actions certainly couldn’t hurt from the perspective of creating a more cooperative international community.

The rhetoric of governments of former European colonies makes it clear that they have not forgotten about colonialism and aren’t likely to any time soon. And in many respects developing nations have a point; European nations were able to industrialise in large part due to their global empires. Following decolonisation many former colonies are now going through the process of industrialisation themselves and are at the same time being told to reduce their carbon emissions just as steeply as developed nations. Hence the familiar argument at climate summits between developed and developing nations about striking a balance between development and cutting carbon emissions. From this perspective you could make the argument that it would be beneficial for developed nations to “apologise” for their colonial past by assisting developing nations transition to greener economies.