Environmental laws and protections put in place in western countries are one of the many things that leads to the wholesale export of industries into places where regulations are laxer or unenforced. The dirty work is sent elsewhere.
Considered as a whole, there is no "third wave" economy, and mass industrialism has never left us. The world's industrial working class is larger than it has ever been. Industrial production is bigger than it's ever been. Industrial pollution is larger than it has ever been, by far. And all of this is tied into a world economy facilitated by global trade.
This should be entirely obvious to people who work in a tech sector where almost all hardware is produced in China.
So it is nonsense to try to divide responsibilities between "developed" and the "developing" world. The whole world continues to be "developing."
And the distribution of wealth itself isn't close to even either, there are areas within the "developed" world that look very similar to the "undeveloped" or "developing" world in terms of living standards.
In the US's case, there was a large gain from switching from coal to natural gas for power generation. Not because it was better environmentally, but because it was cheaper. It's disingenuous for the US to go "Look at all we've done" when half the country is in firm denial that there's even a problem.
Here is a better idea.
How about developed nations, with their might of research, resources and human capital, put aside economic growth for a while and steer the world towards a sustainable future.
Its not about moral victories.
The approach of developed nations has been wrong. You see people like Trump and lose all hope for humanity.
There is only so much a developing country can do when you have scenarios where India has 4 times the population of USA, yet per capita Carbon production is 7 times less.
Still, it is the developing nations who have been most successful in meeting climate targets, be it in renewable energy or reduction in per capita carbon generation.
Sure, I like to whine and point out the moral failures of the developed world, but it is rightly deserved so. Because developing countries also act on climate change, in spite of knowing the effects it has on their economies.
But god forbid angering an American voter by talking about being responsible for climate change.