President Barack Obama blames Western civilization for its enormous contribution to climate change, saying it’s no fair that rapidly developing countries in the East may have to suffer the consequences of the industrial revolution.

“To some degree this is not fair, I think it’s important to note,” Obama said. “Because if you think about Western industrial development before we knew anything about climate change, they used enormous amounts of carbon energy.”

Obama made his remarks during a town hall in Vietnam, with Young Southeast Asian Leaders Initiative students.

He cited the “enormous carbon footprint” of the United States and said it’s warming the planet, warning students that the world would be “under water” if developing nations followed the same path.

“It’s not entirely fair then to say then to countries that are developing now, you have to stop because of climate change,” he said. “The problem is that if a country like Vietnam or China or India took the same development path that the west did, we’re all going to be under water.”

He cited the responsibility that countries like the United States and China had to help developing countries find cleaner alternative sources of energy.

“The good news is, I think that can happen,” he said.