Politics of climate change
![](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/54/COP21_participants_-_30_Nov_2015_%2823430273715%29.jpg/300px-COP21_participants_-_30_Nov_2015_%2823430273715%29.jpg)
The politics of climate change results from different perspectives on how to respond to climate change. Global warming is driven largely by the emissions of greenhouse gases due to human economic activity, especially the burning of fossil fuels, certain industries like cement and steel production, and land use for agriculture and forestry. Since the Industrial Revolution, fossil fuels have provided the main source of energy for economic and technological development. The centrality of fossil fuels and other carbon-intensive industries has resulted in much resistance to climate friendly policy, despite widespread scientific consensus that such policy is necessary.
Climate change first emerged as a political issue in the 1970s. Efforts to mitigate climate change have been prominent on the international political agenda since the 1990s, and are also increasingly addressed at national and local level. Climate change is a complex global problem. Greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions contribute to global warming across the world, regardless of where the emissions originate. Yet the impact of global warming varies widely depending on how vulnerable a location or economy is to its effects. Global warming is on the whole having negative impact, which is predicted to worsen as heating increases. Ability to benefit from both fossil fuels and renewable energy sources vary substantially from nation to nation.
Different responsibilities, benefits and climate related threats faced by the world's nations contributed to early climate change conferences producing little beyond general statements of intent to address the problem, and non-binding commitments from the developed countries to reduce emissions. In the 21st century, there has been increased attention to mechanisms like climate finance in order for vulnerable nations to adapt to climate change. In some nations and local jurisdictions, climate friendly policies have been adopted that go well beyond what was committed to at international level. Yet local reductions in GHG emission that such policies achieve will not slow global warming unless the overall volume of GHG emission declines across the planet.
Since entering the 2020s, the feasibility of replacing energy from fossil fuel with renewable energy sources significantly increased, with some countries now generating almost all their electricity from renewables. Public awareness of the climate change threat has risen, in larger part due to social movement led by youth and visibility of the impacts of climate change, such as extreme weather events and flooding caused by sea level rise. Many surveys show a growing proportion of voters support tackling climate change as a high priority, making it easier for politicians to commit to policies that include climate action. The COVID-19 pandemic and economic recession lead to widespread calls for a "green recovery", with some political contexts like the European Union successfully integrating climate action into policy change. Outright climate change denial had become a much less influential force by 2019, where opposition has pivoted to strategies of encouraging delay or inaction.
Effects of climate change
Global heating is driven by human emissions of greenhouse gases (GHG). As of 2021, average temperatures have already risen about 1.2 °C above pre-industrial levels.[1] This rise has already contributed to the extinction of numerous plants and animals and to many thousands of human deaths. At the 2015 Paris conference, nations agreed to make efforts to keep further rises well below 2 °C, and to try to limit them to 1.5 °C. Specific actions to achieve this have not yet been decided. With existing policies and commitments, global warming is projected to reach about 3 °C by 2100. The impact of global warming could be worsened by the possible triggering of irreversible climate tipping points.[2]
In the worst case, feedback from mutually reinforcing cascading tipping points could lead to runaway climate change beyond human ability to control; though this is considered highly unlikely.[note 1] Considerable economic disruption is predicted even if political agreement is strong enough to achieve the RCP 2.6 pathway, which is likely to keep warming between 1.5 °C and 2 °C. Among the risks of 2 °C warming are sea level rises that could devastate various Island nations, along with vulnerable countries and regions with much low-lying land, such as Bangladesh or Florida. A 3 °C rise would sharply increase occurrences of deadly wet-bulb temperatures, potentially leading to the deaths of tens of millions of people who live in the tropics, unless they are able to migrate or seek shelter in reliably air conditioned areas.
History
The history of climate change policy and politics refers to the continuing history of political actions, policies, trends, controversies and activist efforts as they pertain to the issue of global warming and other environmental anomalies. Dryzek, Norgaard, and Schlosberg suggest that critical reflection on the history of climate policy is necessary because it provides 'ways to think about one of the most difficult issues we human beings have brought upon ourselves in our short life on the planet’.[3]
Climate change emerged as a political issue in the 1970s, where activist and formal efforts were taken to ensure environmental crises were addressed on a global scale.[4] International policy regarding climate change has focused on cooperation and the establishment of international guidelines to address global warming. The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) is a largely accepted international agreement that has continuously developed to meet new challenges.
Domestic policy on climate change has focused on both establishing internal measures to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and incorporating international guidelines into domestic law.
In the late 20th and 21st century, climate change policy moved away from attempts to mitigate the impact of global warming and towards adapting to unavoidable changes to the human environment.[5] There has also been a shift towards vulnerability based policy for those most impacted by environmental anomalies.[5] Over the history of climate policy, concerns have been raised about the treatment of developing nations and a lack of gender specific action.Policy debate
Like all policy debates, the political debate on climate change is fundamentally about action.[6] Various distinct arguments underpin the politics of climate change - such as different assessments of the urgency of the threat, and on the feasibility, advantages and disadvantages of various responses. But essentially, these all relate to potential responses to climate change.[6] To date, a consensual agreement on a credible climate-change framework internationally is still in the works.[7][better source needed]
The statements that form political arguments can be divided into two types: positive and normative statements. Positive statements can generally be clarified or refuted by careful definition of terms, and scientific evidence. Whereas normative statements about what one "ought" to do often relate at least partly to morality, and are essentially a matter of judgement. Experience has indicated that better progress is often made at debates if participants attempt to disentangle the positive and normative parts of their arguments, reaching agreement on the positive statements first. In the early stages of a debate, the normative positions of participants can be strongly influenced by perceptions of the best interests of whatever constituency they represent. In achieving exceptional progress at the 2015 Paris conference, Christiana Figueres and others noted it was helpful that key participants were able to move beyond a competitive mindset concerning competing interests, to normative statements that reflected a shared abundance based collaborative mindset.[8][note 2]
Actions in response to climate change can be divided into three classes: mitigation – actions to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, adaptation – actions to defend against the negative results of global warming, and climate engineering – direct human intervention in the climate, aimed at reducing average global temperature.[9]
Most 20th century international debate on climate change focused almost entirely on mitigation. It was sometimes considered defeatist to pay much attention to adaptation. Also, compared to mitigation, adaptation is more a local matter, with different parts of the world facing vastly different threats and opportunities from climate change. By the early 21st century, while mitigation still receives most attention in political debates, it is no longer the sole focus. Some degree of adaptation is now widely considered essential, and is discussed internationally at least at high level, though which specific actions to take remain mostly a local matter. A commitment to provide $100 billion per year worth of funding to developing countries was made at the 2009 Copenhagen Summit. At Paris, it was clarified that allocation of the funding should involve a balanced split between adaptation and mitigation, though as of December 2020[update], not all funding had been provided, and what had been delivered was going mainly to mitigation projects.[10][11] By 2019, possibilities for geoengineering were also increasingly being discussed, and were expected to become more prominent in future debates.[9][12]
Political debate concerning which specific courses of action for achieving effective mitigation tends to vary depending on the scale of governance concerned. Different considerations apply for international debate, compared with national and municipal level discussion. In the 1990s, when climate change first became prominent on the political agenda, there was optimism that the problem could be successfully tackled. The then recent signing of the 1987 Montreal Protocol to protect the ozone layer had indicated that the world was able to act collectively to address a threat warned about by scientists, even when it was not yet causing significant harm to humans. Yet by the early 2000s, GHG emissions had continued to rise, with little sign of agreement to penalise emitters or reward climate friendly behaviour. It had become clear that achieving global agreement for effective action to limit global warming would be much more challenging.[note 3][9][13] Some politicians, such as Arnold Schwarzenegger with his slogan "terminate pollution", say that activists should generate optimism by focusing on the health co-benefits of climate action.[14]
Multilateral
![](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/ca/CO2_emission_pie_chart.svg/300px-CO2_emission_pie_chart.svg.png)
Climate change became a fixture on the global political agenda in the early 1990s, with United Nations Climate Change conferences set to run yearly. These annual events are also called Conferences of the Parties (COPs). Major landmark COPs were the 1997 Kyoto Protocol, the 2009 Copenhagen Summit and the 2015 Paris conference. Kyoto was initially considered promising, yet by the early 2000s its results had proved disappointing. Copenhagen saw a major attempt to move beyond Kyoto with a much stronger package of commitments, yet largely failed. Paris was widely considered successful, yet how effective it will be at reducing long term global warming remains to be seen.[9]
At international level, there are three broad approaches to emissions reduction that nations can attempt to negotiate. Firstly, the adoption of emissions reductions targets. Secondly, setting a carbon price. Lastly, creating largely voluntary set of processes to encourage emission reduction, which include the sharing of information and progress reviews. These approaches are largely complementary, though at various conferences much of the focus has often been on a single approach. Until about 2010, international negotiations focused largely on emissions targets. The success of the Montreal treaty in reducing emissions that damaged the ozone layer suggested that targets could be effective. Yet in the case of greenhouse gas reductions, targets have not in general led to substantial cuts in emissions. Ambitious targets have usually not been met. Attempts to impose severe penalties that would incentivise more determined efforts to meet challenging targets, have always been blocked by at least one or two nations.[15]
In the 21st century, there is widespread agreement that a carbon price is the most effective way to reduce emissions, at least in theory.[16] Generally though, nations have been reluctant to adopt a high carbon price, or in most cases any price at all. One of the main reasons for this reluctance is the problem of carbon leakage – the phenomena where activities producing GHG emissions are moved out of the jurisdiction that imposes the carbon price thus depriving the jurisdiction of jobs & revenue, and to no benefit, as the emissions will be released elsewhere. Nonetheless, the percentage of the worlds' emissions that are covered by a carbon price rose from 5% in 2005, to 15% by 2019, and should reach over 40% once China's carbon price comes fully into force. Existing carbon price regimes have been implemented mostly independently by the European Union, nations and sub national jurisdictions acting autonomously.[17]
The largely voluntary pledge and review system where states make their own plans for emissions reduction was introduced in 1991, but abandoned before the 1997 Kyoto treaty, where the focus was on securing agreement for "top down" emissions targets. The approach was revived at Copenhagen, and gained further prominence with the 2015 Paris Agreement, though pledges came to be called nationally determined contributions (NDCs). These are meant to be re-submitted in enhanced form every 5 years. How effective this approach is remains to be seen.[18] Some countries submitted elevated NDCs in 2021, around the time of the Glasgow conference. Accounting rules for carbon trading were agreed at the 2021 Glasgow COP meeting.[19]
Regional, National and sub national
![](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/f1/Climate_Change_Performance_Index_2021.svg/410px-Climate_Change_Performance_Index_2021.svg.png)
High | Medium | Low | Very Low |
Policies to reduce GHG emissions are set by either national or sub national jurisdictions, or at regional level in the case of the European Union. Much of the emission reduction policies that have been put into place have been beyond those required by international agreements. Examples include the introduction of a carbon price by some individual US states, or Costa Rica reaching 99% electrical power generation by renewables in the 2010s.
Actual decisions to reduce emissions or deploy clean technologies are mostly not made by governments themselves, but by individuals, businesses and other organisations. Yet it is national and local governments that set policies to encourage climate friendly activity. Broadly these policies can be divided into four types: firstly, the implementation of a carbon price mechanism and other financial incentives; secondly prescriptive regulations, for example mandating that a certain percentage of electricity generation must be from renewables; thirdly, direct government spending on climate friendly activity or research; and fourthly, approaches based on information sharing, education and encouraging voluntary climate friendly behaviour.[9] Local politics is sometimes combined with air pollution, for example the politics of creating low emission zones in cities may also aim to reduce carbon emissions from road transport.[20]
Non-governmental actors
Individuals, businesses and NGOs can affect the politics of climate change both directly and indirectly. Mechanisms include individual rhetoric, aggregate expression of opinion by means of polls, and mass protests. Historically, a significant proportion of these protests have been against climate friendly policies. Since the 2000 UK fuel protests there have been dozens of protests across the world against fuel taxes or the ending of fuel subsidies. Since 2019 and the advent of the school strike and Extinction Rebellion, pro climate protests have become more prominent. Indirect channels for apolitical actors to effect the politics of climate change include funding or working on green technologies, and the fossil fuel divestment movement.[9]
Special interests and lobbying by non-country actors
![](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/1/14/BoiseDSAClimateChangeMarchers.jpg/300px-BoiseDSAClimateChangeMarchers.jpg)
There are numerous special interest groups, organizations, and corporations who have public and private positions on the multifaceted topic of global warming. The following is a partial list of the types of special interest parties that have shown an interest in the politics of global warming:
- Fossil fuel companies: Traditional fossil fuel corporations stand to lose from stricter global warming regulations, though there are exceptions. The fact fossil fuel companies are engaged in energy trading might mean that their participation in trading schemes and other such mechanisms could give them a unique advantage, so it is unclear whether every traditional fossil fuel companies would always be against stricter global warming policies.[21] As an example, Enron, a traditional gas pipeline company with a large trading desk heavily lobbied the United States government to regulate CO2: they thought that they would dominate the energy industry if they could be at the center of energy trading.[22][23][24]
- Farmers and agribusiness are an important lobby but vary in their views on effects of climate change on agriculture[25] and greenhouse gas emissions from agriculture[26] and, for example, the role of the EU Common Agricultural Policy.[27]
- Financial Institutions: Financial institutions generally support policies against global warming, particularly the implementation of carbon trading schemes and the creation of market mechanisms that associate a price with carbon. These new markets require trading infrastructures, which banking institutions can provide. Financial institutions are also well positioned to invest, trade and develop various financial instruments that they could profit from through speculative positions on carbon prices and the use of brokerage and other financial functions like insurance and derivative instruments.[28]
- Environmental groups: Environmental advocacy groups generally favor strict restrictions on CO2 emissions. Environmental groups, as activists, engage in raising awareness.[29]
- Renewable energy and energy efficiency companies: companies in wind, solar and energy efficiency generally support stricter global warming policies. They expect their share of the energy market to expand as fossil fuels are made more expensive through trading schemes or taxes.[30]
- Nuclear power companies: support and benefit from carbon pricing or subsidies of low-carbon energy production, as nuclear power produces minimal greenhouse gas emissions.[31]
- Electricity distribution companies: may lose from solar panels but benefit from electric vehicles.[32]
- Traditional retailers and marketers: traditional retailers, marketers, and the general corporations respond by adopting policies that resonate with their customers. If "being green" provides customer appeal, then they could undertake modest programs to please and better align with their customers. However, since the general corporation does not make a profit from their particular position, it is unlikely that they would strongly lobby either for or against a stricter global warming policy position.[33]
- Medics: often say that climate change and air pollution can be tackled together and so save millions of lives.[34]
- Information and communications technology companies: say their products help others combat climate change, tend to benefit from reductions in travel, and many purchase green electricity.[35]
The various interested parties sometimes align with one another to reinforce their message, for example electricity companies fund the purchase of electric school buses to benefit medics by reducing the load on the health service whilst at the same time selling more electricity. Sometimes industries will fund specialty nonprofit organizations to raise awareness and lobby on their behest.[36][37]
Collective action
Current climate politics are influenced by a number of social and political movements focused on different parts of building political will for climate action. This includes the climate justice movement, youth climate movement and movements to divest from fossil fuel industries.
Divestment movement
![](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/43/Divestment_growth_en.svg/300px-Divestment_growth_en.svg.png)
Fossil fuel divestment or fossil fuel divestment and investment in climate solutions is an attempt to reduce climate change by exerting social, political, and economic pressure for the institutional divestment of assets including stocks, bonds, and other financial instruments connected to companies involved in extracting fossil fuels.
Fossil fuel divestment campaigns emerged on campuses in the United States in 2011 with students urging their administrations to turn endowment investments in the fossil fuel industry into investments in clean energy and communities most impacted by climate change.[39] In 2012, Unity College in Maine became the first institution of higher learning to divest[40] its endowment from fossil fuels.
By 2015, fossil fuel divestment was reportedly the fastest growing divestment movement in history.[41] In October 2021, a total of 1,485 institutions representing $39.2 trillion in assets worldwide had begun or committed to a divestment from fossil fuels.[42]Youth movement
School Strike for Climate (Swedish: Skolstrejk för klimatet), also known variously as Fridays for Future (FFF), Youth for Climate, Climate Strike or Youth Strike for Climate, is an international movement of school students who skip Friday classes to participate in demonstrations to demand action from political leaders to prevent climate change and for the fossil fuel industry to transition to renewable energy.
Publicity and widespread organising began after Swedish pupil Greta Thunberg staged a protest in August 2018 outside of the Swedish Riksdag (parliament), holding a sign that read "Skolstrejk för klimatet" ("School strike for climate").[43][44]
A global strike on 15 March 2019 gathered more than one million strikers in 2,200 strikes organised in 125 countries.[45][46][47][48] On 24 May 2019, in the second global strike, 1,600 protests across 150 countries drew hundreds of thousands of strikers. The May protests were timed to coincide with the 2019 European Parliament election.[47][49][50][51]
The 2019 Global Week for Future was a series of 4,500 strikes across over 150 countries, focused around Friday 20 September and Friday 27 September. Likely the largest climate strikes in world history, the 20 September strikes gathered roughly 4 million protesters, many of them schoolchildren, including 1.4 million in Germany.[52] On 27 September, an estimated two million people participated in demonstrations worldwide, including over one million protesters in Italy and several hundred thousand protesters in Canada.[53][54][55]Current outlook
Historical political attempts to agree on policies to limit global warming have largely failed. Commentators have expressed optimism that the 2020s can be more successful, due to various recent developments and opportunities that were not present during earlier periods. Other commentators have expressed warnings that there is now very little time to act in order to have any chance of keeping warming below 1.5 °C, or even to have a good chance of keeping global heating under 2 °C.[9][56][57][58]
Opportunities
In the late 2010s, various developments conducive to climate friendly politics saw commentators express optimism that the 2020s might see good progress in addressing the threat of global heating.[9][56][57]
Tipping point in public opinion
![](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/9/97/Greta_Thunberg_01.jpg/300px-Greta_Thunberg_01.jpg)
The year 2019 has been described as "the year the world woke up to climate change", driven by factors such growing recognition of the global warming threat resulting from recent extreme weather events, the Greta effect and the IPPC 1.5 °C report[59][60]
In 2019, the secretary general of OPEC recognised the school strike movement as the greatest threat faced by the fossil fuel industry. According to Christiana Figueres, once about 3.5% of a population start participating in non violent protest, they are always successful in sparking political change, with the success of Greta Thunberg's Fridays for Future movement suggesting that reaching this threshold may be obtainable.[61]
Reduced influence of climate change denial
By 2019, outright climate change denial had become a much less influential force than it had been in previous years. Reasons for this include the increasing frequency of extreme weather events, more effective communication on the part of climate scientists, and the Greta effect. As an example, in 2019 the Cato Institute closed down its climate shop.[62][63][64][65][66]
Growth of renewable energy
Renewable energy is an inexhaustible source of naturally replenishing energy. The major renewable energy sources are wind, hydropower, solar, geothermal, and biomass. In 2020, renewable energy generated 29% of world electricity.[67]
In the wake of the Paris Agreement, 168 countries have adopted national renewable energy targets and 115 counties as well, have national renewable energy targets. There are many different efforts used by these countries to help include renewable energy investments such as 102 countries have implemented tax credits, 101 countries include some sort of public investment, and 100 countries currently use tax reductions. The largest CO2 emitters tend to be industrialized countries like the US, China, UK, and India. These countries aren't implementing enough industrial policies (188) compared to deployment policies (more than 1,000). It's clear that these policies must be created in a way where they build upon each other, so they are most effective.[68]
In November 2021, the 26th United Nation Conference of the Parties (COP26) took place in Glasgow, Scotland. Almost 200 nations agreed to accelerate the fight against climate change and commit to more effective climate pledges. Some of the new pledges included reforms on methane gas pollution, deforestation, and coal financing. Surprisingly, the US and China (the two largest carbon emitters) also both agreed to work together on efforts to prevent global warming from surpassing 1.5 degrees Celsius.[69] Some scientists, politicians, and activist are arguing that enough hasn't been done at this summit and that we will still reach that 1.5 degree tipping point. An Independent report by Climate Action Tracker said the commitments were “lip service” and “we will emit roughly twice as much in 2030 as required for 1.5 degrees.”[70]
As of 2020, the feasibility of replacing energy from fossil fuel with nuclear and especially renewable energy has much increased, with dozens of countries now generating more than half of their electricity from renewable sources.[71][72]
Green recovery
Green recovery packages are proposed environmental, regulatory and fiscal reforms to build prosperity in the wake of an economic crisis, like the COVID-19 pandemic or the Global Financial Crisis. They pertain to fiscal measures that intend to recover economic growth while also positively benefitting the environment, including measures for renewable energy, efficient energy use, nature based solutions, sustainable transport, green innovation and green jobs, amongst others.[73][74][75][76]
For green recovery in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, support has come from multiple political parties, governments, activists and academia across the European Union,[77] the United Kingdom,[78] the United States,[79][80] and other countries. Following similar measures in response to the Global Financial Crisis,[81] a key part of the packages is to ensure that actions to combat recession also combat climate change, including the reduction of coal, oil, and gas use, clean transport, renewable energy, eco-friendly buildings, and sustainable corporate or financial practices. These initiatives are supported by the United Nations and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development.[82] Several global initiatives have provided live tracking of national fiscal responses, including the Global Recovery Observatory (from Oxford University, the United Nations, and the IMF),[83] the Energy Policy Tracker (from a consortium of six organisations),[84] and the OECD's Green Recovery Tracker.[85] The Global Recovery Observatory includes ~8,000 policies in 88 countries compared to ~1,700 for Energy Policy Tracker in 35 countries, and 1,500 in 44 countries for the OECD.
Dilineating between rescue and recovery investment, an Oxford University March 2021 analysis found that 18% of recovery investment and 2.5% of total spending had been green.[73] In July 2021, the International Energy Agency supported that analysis, noting that only around 2% of economic bailout money worldwide was going to clean energy.[86] According to a 2022 analysis of the $14tn that G20 countries have spent as economic stimulus, only about 6% of pandemic recovery spending has been allocated to areas that will also cut greenhouse-gas emissions, including electrifying vehicles, making buildings more energy efficient and installing renewables.[87]Challenges
Despite various promising conditions, commentators tend to warn that several difficult challenges remain, which need to be overcome if climate change politics is to result in a substantial reduction of greenhouse gas emissions.[9][56][57] For example increasing tax on meat can be politically difficult.[88]
Urgency
As of 2021, CO2 levels have already increased by about 50% since the pre-industrial era, with billions of tons more being released each year. Global warming has already passed the point where it is beginning to have a catastrophic impact in some localities. So major policy changes need to be implemented very soon if the risk of escalating environmental impact is to be avoided.[9][56][57]
Centrality of fossil fuel
Energy from fossil fuels remains central to the worlds economy, accounting for about 80% of its energy generation as of 2019. Suddenly removing fossil fuel subsidies from consumers has often been found to cause riots.[89] While clean energy can sometimes be cheaper,[90][note 4] provisioning large amounts of renewable energy in a short period of time tends to be challenging.[9][12][13] According to a 2021 report by the International Energy Agency, energy related CO2 emissions from fossil fuels are set to rise in 2021 by 4.8%. This would be the second highest rise ever, expected to be driven largely by increased burning of coal.[91] In 2022 the European Central Bank argued that high energy prices were accelerating the energy transition away from fossil fuel, but that governments should take steps to prevent energy poverty without hindering the move to low carbon energy.[92]
Inactivism
While outright denial of climate change is much less prevalent in the 2020s compared to the preceding decades, many arguments continue to be made against taking action to limit GHG emissions. Such arguments include the view that there are better ways to spend available funds (such as adaptation), that it would be better to wait until new technology is developed as that would make mitigation cheaper, that technology and innovation will render climate change moot or resolve certain aspects, and that the future negative effects of climate change should be heavily discounted compared to current needs.[93][94]
Fossil fuel lobby and political spending
The largest oil and gas corporations that comprise Big Oil and their industry lobbyist arm, the American Petroleum Institute (API), spend large amounts of money on lobbying and political campaigns, and employ hundreds of lobbyists, to obstruct and delay government action to address climate change. The fossil fuel lobby has considerable clout in Washington, D.C. and in other political centers, including the European Union and the United Kingdom.[95][96][97][98][99][100] Fossil fuel industry interests spend many times as much on advancing their agenda in the halls of power than do ordinary citizens and environmental activists, with the former spending $2 billion in the years 2000–2016 on climate change lobbying in the United States.[101][102] The five largest Big Oil corporations spent hundreds of millions of euros to lobby for its agenda in Brussels.[103] Big Oil companies often adopt "sustainability principles" that are at odds with the policy agenda their lobbyists advocate, which often entails sewing doubt about the reality and impacts of climate change and forestalling government efforts to address them. API launched a public relations disinformation campaign with the aim of creating doubt in the public mind so that “climate change becomes a non-issue."[95][102] This industry also spends lavishly on American political campaigns, with approximately 2/3 of its political contributions over the past several decades fueling Republican Party politicians,[104] and outspending many fold political contributions from renewable energy advocates.[105] Fossil fuel industry political contributions reward politicians who vote against environmental protections. According to a study published by the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, as voting by a member of United States Congress turned more anti-environment, as measured by his/her voting record as scored by the League of Conservation Voters (LCV), the fossil fuel industry contributions that this member of Congress received increased. On average, a 10% decrease in the LCV score was correlated with an increase of $1,700 in campaign contributions from the fossil fuel industry for the campaign following the Congressional term.[106][107]
Suppression of climate science
Big Oil companies, starting as early as the 1970s, suppressed their own scientists' reports of major climate impacts of the combustion of fossil fuels. ExxonMobil launched a corporate propaganda campaign promoting false information about the issue of climate change, a tactic that has been compared to Big Tobacco's public relations efforts to hoodwink the public about the dangers of smoking.[108] Fossil fuel industry-funded think tanks harassed climate scientists who were publicly discussing the dire threat of climate change.[109] As early as the 1980s when larger segments of the American public began to become aware of the climate change issue, the administrations of some United States presidents scorned scientists who spoke publicly of the threat fossil fuels posed for the climate.[110] Other U.S. administrations have silenced climate scientists and muzzled government whistleblowers.[111] Political appointees at a number of federal agencies prevented scientists from reporting their findings regarding aspects of the climate crisis, changed data modeling to arrive at conclusions they had set out a prior to prove, and shut out the input of career scientists of the agencies.[112][113][114]
Targeting of climate activists
Climate and environmental activists, including, increasingly, those defending woodlands against the logging industry, have been killed in several countries, such as Colombia, Brazil and the Philippines. The perpetrators of most such killings have not been punished. A record number of such killings was recorded for the year 2019. Indigenous environmental activists are disproportionately targeted, comprising as many as 40% of fatalities worldwide.[115][116][117] Domestic intelligence services of several governments, such as those of the U.S. government, have targeted environmental activists and climate change organizations as "domestic terrorists," surveilling them, investigating them, questioning them, and placing them on national "watchlists" that could make it more difficult for them to board airplanes and could instigate local law enforcement monitoring.[118][119][120] Other U.S. tactics have included preventing media coverage of American citizen assemblies and protests against climate change, and partnering with private security companies to monitor activists.[121]
Doomism
In the context of climate change politics, doomism refers to pessimistic narratives that claim that it is now too late to do anything about climate change. Doomism can include exaggeration of the probability of cascading climate tipping points, and their likelihood in triggering runaway global heating beyond human ability to control, even if humanity was able to immediately stop all burning of fossil fuels. In the US, polls found that for people who did not support further action to limit global warming, a belief that it is too late to do so was given as a more common reason than skepticism about man made climate change.[122][123]
Lack of compromise
Several climate friendly policies have been blocked in the legislative process by environmental and/or left leaning pressure groups and parties. For example, in 2009, the Australian green party voted against the Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme, as they felt it did not impose a high enough carbon price. In the US, the Sierra Club helped defeat a 2016 climate tax bill which they saw as lacking in social justice. Some of the attempts to impose a carbon price in US states have been blocked by left wing politicians because they were to be implemented by a cap and trade mechanism, rather than a tax.[124]
Multi-sector governance
The issue of climate change usually fits into various sectors, which means that the integration of climate change policies into other policy areas is frequently called for.[125] Thus the problem is difficult, as it needs to be addressed at multiple scales with diverse actors involved in the complex governance process.[126]
Maladaptation
Successful adaptation to climate change requires balancing competing economic, social, and political interests. In the absence of such balancing, harmful unintended consequences can undo the benefits of adaptation initiatives. For example, efforts to protect coral reefs in Tanzania forced local villagers to shift from traditional fishing activities to farming that produced higher greenhouse gas emissions.[127]
Technology
The promise of technology is seen as both a threat and a potential boon. New technologies can open up possibilities for new and more effective climate policies. Most models that indicate a path to limiting warming to 2 °C have a big role for carbon dioxide removal, one of the two main forms of climate engineering. Commentators from across the political spectrum tend to welcome CO2 removal. But some are sceptical that it will be ever be able to remove enough CO2 to slow global warming without there also being rapid cuts in emissions, and they warn that too much optimism about such technology may make it harder for mitigation policies to be enacted.[9][56]
There is a somewhat opposite view towards the other main form of climate engineering, solar radiation management. At least with the sulphur based aerosol variant, there is broad agreement that it would be effective in bringing down average global temperatures. Yet the prospect is considered unwelcome by many climate scientists. They warn that side effects would include possible reductions in agricultural yields due to reduced sunlight and rainfall, and possible localised temperature rises and other weather disruptions. According to Michael Mann, the prospect of using solar management to reduce temperatures is another argument used to reduce willingness to enact emissions reduction policy.[128][56][129]
Just transition
Economic disruption due to phaseout of carbon-intensive activities, such as coal mining, cattle farming[130] or bottom trawling,[131] can be politically sensitive due to the high political profile of coal miners,[132] farmers[133] and fishers[134] in some countries. Many labor and environmental groups advocate for a just transition that minimizes the harm and maximizes the benefits associated with climate-related changes to society, for example by providing job training.
Different responses on the political spectrum
Climate friendly policies are generally supported across the political spectrum. Though there have been many exceptions among voters and politicians leaning towards the right, and even politicians on the left have rarely made addressing climate change a top priority. Some nations and individuals are unwilling to reduce greenhouse gas emissions or enforce laws because in doing so, they would only suffer in paying the full price of abatement.[140][better source needed] In the 20th century, right wing politicians led much significant action against climate change, both internationally and domestically, with Richard Nixon and Margaret Thatcher being prominent examples.[141][142] Yet by the 1990s, especially in some English speaking countries and most especially in the US, the issue began to be polarised.[13][9] Right wing media started arguing that climate change was being invented or at least exaggerated by the left to justify an expansion in the size of government.[note 5] As of 2020, some right wing governments have enacted increased climate friendly policies. Various surveys indicated a slight trend for even U.S. right wing voters to become less sceptical of global warming, and groups like American Conservation Coalition indicate young Republican voters embrace climate as a central policy field. Though in the view of Anatol Lieven, for some right wing US voters, being sceptical of climate change has become part of their identity, so their position on the matter can not easily be shifted by rational argument.[143][144][65] [145]
A 2014 study from the University of Dortmund concluded that countries with centre and left-wing governments had higher emission reductions than right-wing governments in OECD countries for the time period 1992–2008.[146] Historically, nationalist governments have been among the worst performers in enacting policies. Though according to Lieven, as climate change is increasingly seen as a threat to the ongoing existence of nation states, nationalism is likely to become one of the most effective forces to drive determined mitigation efforts. The growing trend to securitize the climate change threat may be especially effective for increasing support among nationalist and conservatives.[143][135][9]
Relationship to climate science
![](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/30/Mark_Carney_on_January_27%2C_2011.jpg/300px-Mark_Carney_on_January_27%2C_2011.jpg)
In the scientific literature, there is an overwhelming consensus that global surface temperatures have increased in recent decades and that the trend is caused primarily by human-induced emissions of greenhouse gases.[147][148][149]
The politicization of science in the sense of a manipulation of science for political gains is a part of the political process. It is part of the controversies about intelligent design[150][151] (compare the Wedge strategy) or Merchants of Doubt, scientists that are under suspicion to willingly obscure findings. e.g. about issues like tobacco smoke, ozone depletion, global warming or acid rain.[152][153] However, e.g. in case of ozone depletion, global regulation based on the Montreal Protocol was successful, in a climate of high uncertainty and against strong resistance[154] while in case of climate change, the Kyoto Protocol failed.[155]
While the IPCC process tries to find and orchestrate the findings of global climate change research to shape a worldwide consensus on the matter[156] it has itself been the object of a strong politicization.[157] Anthropogenic climate change evolved from a mere science issue to a top global policy topic.[157]
The IPCC process having built a broad science consensus does not stop governments following different, if not opposing goals.[157][158] In case of the ozone depletion challenge, global regulation was already being put into place before a scientific consensus was established.[154] So a linear model of policy-making, based on a the more knowledge we have, the better the political response will be view is not necessarily accurate. Instead knowledge policy,[157] successfully managing knowledge and uncertainties as a foundation for political decision making; requires a better understanding of the relation between science, public (lack of) understanding and policy.[155][158][159][160]
Most of the policy debate concerning climate change mitigation has been framed by projections for the twenty-first century. Academics have criticised this as short term thinking, as decisions made in the next few decades will have environmental consequences that will last for many millennia.[161]
It has been estimated that only 0.12% of all funding for climate-related research is spent on the social science of climate change mitigation.[162] Vastly more funding is spent on natural science studies of climate change and considerable sums are also spent on studies of the impact of and adaptation to climate change.[162] It has been argued that this is a misallocation of resources, as the most urgent puzzle at the current juncture is to work out how to change human behavior to mitigate climate change, whereas the natural science of climate change is already well established and there will be decades and centuries to handle adaptation.[162]
See also
- Business action on climate change
- Carbon emission trading
- Carbon footprint
- Carbon tech
- Climate change policy of the United States
- Climate movement
- Clean Development Mechanism
- Climate legislation
- Economics of global warming
- Environmental agreements
- Environmental law
- Environmental politics
- Fossil fuel phase-out
- Green New Deal
- Green politics
- List of climate change initiatives
- List of international environmental agreements
- Low-carbon economy
- Sustainability
Notes
- ^ Michael E. Mann says there is no mainstream scientific evidence at all for runaway global warming as an imminent threat (See Mann 2021, Chpt 8, esp. p.204) However, other mainstream climate scientists, such as Will Steffen, an author of the 2018 IPPC 1.5 °C report, considers the risk significant. Warnings of the runaway warming threat appear in various books on the politics of climate change published after 2019, for example Liven (2020), Figures (2020), Chomsky (2020).
- ^ Dessler (2020), broadly agrees that this more collaborative approach was key to success at Paris, though warned that one of the main parties which drove the change (China) had by 2018 returned to a less friendly approach, seeking to magnify differences between developed and less developed nations.
- ^ In addition to the normal collective action problems, other difficulties have included: 1) That fact that fossil fuel use has been common across the economy, unlike the relatively few firms that controlled manufacture of products containing the CFCs, which had been damaging the Ozone layer. 2. Incompatible views from different nations on the level of responsibility that highly developed countries had in assisting less developed controls to control their emissions without inhibiting their economic growth. 3.) Difficulty in getting humans to take significant action to limit a threat that is far away in the future. 4) The dilemma between the conflicting needs to reach agreements that could be accepted by all, versus the desirability for the agreement to have significant practical effect on human activity. See e.g. Dryzek (2011) Chpt. 3, and Dessler (2020) Chpt. 1, 4 & 5.
- ^ Whether it actually is cheaper depends on various factors like the fluctuating price of fossil fuels on the global market, the endowments that the Jurisdiction enjoys (sunlight, amount of flowing water etc. ) and if the new renewable energy infrastructure is replacing an existing fossil fuel plant, on the timescale under consideration, which determines whether construction costs can be offset.
- ^ Much media coverage on these lines was paid for by the fossil fuel industry, with Koch Industries one of the more prominent companies involved. Yet in the early 2010s the Koch brothers pushed for taxes on households with solar panels selling excess energy back to the Grid, leading Michael Mann to suggest that preference for small government may not have been their primary motivation. See Mann (2021) Chpt 6, p. 124-127
Citations
- ^ Mann 2021, chpt. 8 , p.213
- ^ IPCCSR 2018, Section 3.5.2 & 3.5.5
- ^ Dryzek, John S.; Norgaard, Richard B.; Schlosberg, David (18 August 2011). Climate Change and Society: Approaches and Responses. Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199566600.003.0001.
- ^ Haibach, H. and Schneider, K., 2013. The Politics of Climate Change: Review and Future Challenges. In: O. Ruppel, C. Roschmann and K. Ruppel-Schlichting, ed., Climate Change: International Law and Global Governance: Volume II: Policy, Diplomacy and Governance in a Changing Environment, 1st ed. Baden-Baden: Nomos Verlagsgesellschaft mbH, p.372.
- ^ a b Ford, James (2007). "Emerging trends in climate change policy: the role of adaptation". Journal of Climate. 3: 5–14.
- ^ a b Dessler 2020, Chpt. 2, p.35
- ^ Helm, Dieter; Hepburn, Cameron, eds. (2009). The Economics and Politics of Climate Change. Oxford: Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/acprof:osobl/9780199573288.001.0001. ISBN 978-0-19-957328-8.
- ^ Figueres 2020, Chpt 6, p73.74
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Dessler 2020, Chpt. 1 , 4,5
- ^ "António Guterres on the climate crisis: 'We are coming to a point of no return'". The Guardian. 11 June 2021.
- ^ "DELIVERING ON THE $100 BILLIONCLIMATE FINANCE COMMITMENTAND TRANSFORMING CLIMATE FINANCE" (PDF). www.UN.org. December 2020. Retrieved 19 June 2021.
- ^ a b "Why tackling global warming is a challenge without precedent". The Economist. April 2020. Retrieved 5 April 2021.
- ^ a b c Elaine Kamarck (September 2019). "The challenging politics of climate change". Brookings Institution. Retrieved 7 April 2021.
- ^ "Schwarzenegger: climate activists should focus on pollution". The Independent. 1 July 2021. Retrieved 4 May 2022.
- ^ Dessler 2020, Chp1, Chpt4, section 4.2.5
- ^ Mann 2021, Chpt 5 , p111
- ^ Dessler 2020, Chpt4, p141
- ^ Dessler 2020, Chpt4, p148-149
- ^ "COP26: Article 6 rulebook updated, but remains work in progress". IHS Markit. 15 November 2021. Retrieved 19 January 2022.
- ^ "ULEZ expansion and higher charges considered to cut congestion".
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ^ Coren, Michael J. (5 February 2019). "Oil companies and utilities are buying up all the electric car charging startups". Quartz. Retrieved 24 November 2019.
- ^ "Enron Sought Global Warming Regulation, Not Free Markets". Competitive Enterprise Institute. Archived from the original on 21 September 2012. Retrieved 4 December 2012.
- ^ David Michaels (2008) Doubt is Their Product: How Industry's Assault on Science Threatens Your Health.
- ^ Hoggan, James; Littlemore, Richard (2009). Climate Cover-Up: The Crusade to Deny Global Warming. Vancouver: Greystone Books. ISBN 978-1-55365-485-8. Retrieved 19 March 2010. See, e.g., p31 ff, describing industry-based advocacy strategies in the context of climate change denial, and p73 ff, describing involvement of free-market think tanks in climate-change denial.
- ^ "How Climate Change in Iowa is Changing U.S. Politics". Time. Retrieved 29 September 2020.
- ^ "Political will is the most important driver of climate-neutral agriculture". D+C. Retrieved 29 September 2020.
- ^ "The CAP and climate change". European Commission - European Commission. Retrieved 29 September 2020.
- ^ "Banking on carbon trading: Can banks stop climate change?". CNN. 20 July 2008. Retrieved 22 February 2013.
- ^ "The climate lobby from soup to nuts". Center for Public Integrity. 27 December 2009. Retrieved 23 February 2013.
- ^ "Under Obama, Spain's Solar, Wind Energy Companies Invest Big In US". Huffington Post. 18 January 2013. Retrieved 22 February 2013.
- ^ "The inclusive route to low-carbon electricity : Energy & Environment - World Nuclear News". www.world-nuclear-news.org. Retrieved 29 September 2020.
- ^ Nhede, Nicholas (10 April 2019). "DSOs as key actors in e-mobility". Smart Energy International. Retrieved 24 November 2019.
- ^ "25 Big Companies That Are Going Green". Business Pundit. 29 July 2008. Retrieved 22 February 2013.
- ^ Shindell D, Faluvegi G, Seltzer K, Shindell C (2018). "Quantified, Localized Health Benefits of Accelerated Carbon Dioxide Emissions Reductions". Nat Clim Change. 8 (4): 291–295. Bibcode:2018NatCC...8..291S. doi:10.1038/s41558-018-0108-y. PMC 5880221. PMID 29623109.
{{cite journal}}
: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) - ^ "How ICTs can tackle the climate crisis". www.telecomreview.com. Retrieved 29 September 2020.
- ^ "Climate change lobbying dominated by 10 firms". Politico. Retrieved 23 February 2013.
- ^ "Greenpeace informal alliance with Wind and Solar". Retrieved 23 February 2013.
- ^ "Divestment Commitments". Gofossilfree.org. Retrieved 11 April 2020.
- ^ Gibson, Dylan; Duram, Leslie (2020). "Shifting Discourse on Climate and Sustainability: Key Characteristics of the Higher Education Fossil Fuel Divestment Movement". Sustainability. 12 (23): 10069. doi:10.3390/su122310069.
- ^ "Divestment from Fossil Fuels". Unity College. Retrieved 29 December 2021.
- ^ "Fossil fuel divestment: a brief history". The Guardian. 8 October 2014. Retrieved 25 March 2015.
- ^ "1485 institutions with assets over $39.2 Trillion have committed to divest from fossil fuels". Stand.earth. 26 October 2021. Retrieved 1 December 2021.
- ^ Crouch, David (1 September 2018). "The Swedish 15-year-old who's cutting class to fight the climate crisis". The Guardian. London, United Kingdom. Archived from the original on 4 January 2019. Retrieved 1 September 2018.
- ^ Weyler, Rex (4 January 2019). "The youth have seen enough". Greenpeace International. Archived from the original on 21 January 2020. Retrieved 22 January 2019.
- ^ Carrington, Damian (19 March 2019). "School climate strikes: 1.4 million people took part, say campaigners". Archived from the original on 7 March 2020. Retrieved 19 March 2019.
- ^ Glenza, Jessica; Evans, Alan; Ellis-Petersen, Hannah; Zhou, Naaman (15 March 2019). "Climate strikes held around the world – as it happened". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Archived from the original on 16 March 2019. Retrieved 16 March 2019.
- ^ a b "Students walk out in global climate strike". BBC. 24 May 2019. Archived from the original on 24 May 2019. Retrieved 24 May 2019.
- ^ Barclay, Eliza (15 March 2019). "Photos: kids in 123 countries went on strike to protect the climate". Archived from the original on 20 March 2020. Retrieved 16 March 2019.
- ^ "'We're one, we're back': Pupils renew world climate action strike". Al Jazeera. 24 May 2019. Archived from the original on 24 May 2019. Retrieved 24 May 2019.
- ^ Gerretsen, Isabelle (24 May 2019). "Global Climate Strike: Record number of students walk out". CNN. Archived from the original on 20 September 2019. Retrieved 20 September 2019.
- ^ Haynes, Suyin (24 May 2019). "Students From 1,600 Cities Just Walked Out of School to Protest Climate Change. It Could Be Greta Thunberg's Biggest Strike Yet". Time. Archived from the original on 26 May 2019. Retrieved 27 May 2019.
- ^ Largest climate strike:
- Laville, Sandra; Watts, Jonathan (21 September 2019). "Across the globe, millions join biggest climate protest ever". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 20 September 2019. Retrieved 21 September 2019.
- Barclay, Eliza; Resnick, Brian (20 September 2019). "How big was the global climate strike? 4 million people, activists estimate". Vox. Archived from the original on 21 September 2019. Retrieved 21 September 2019.
- "Rekordzahlen bei Klimademos: In Deutschland demonstrieren 1,4 Millionen Menschen". zdf.de (in German). Archived from the original on 25 March 2020. Retrieved 21 September 2019.
- "Liveblog zum globalen Klimastreik: Fridays for Future protestiert in 2000 Orten". Stuttgarter Zeitung. Archived from the original on 20 September 2019. Retrieved 20 September 2019.
- ^ Taylor, Matthew; Watts, Jonathan; Bartlett, John (27 September 2019). "Climate crisis: 6 million people join latest wave of global protests". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 8 December 2019. Retrieved 28 September 2019.
- ^ "Fridays for future, al via i cortei in 180 città italiane: 'Siamo più di un milione'" [Fridays for future, kids in the streets in 180 Italian cities: 'We're more than a million']. la Repubblica. 27 September 2019. Archived from the original on 21 February 2020. Retrieved 27 September 2019.
- ^ Murphy, Jessica (27 September 2019). "Hundreds of thousands join Canada climate strikes". BBC. Archived from the original on 17 October 2019. Retrieved 28 September 2019.
- ^ a b c d e f Mann 2021, Chpt 9.
- ^ a b c d Figueres 2020, Chpt 1, Chpt 5
- ^ Simon Lewis (3 March 2021). "The climate crisis can't be solved by carbon accounting tricks". The Guardian. Retrieved 6 April 2021.
- ^ Vaughan, Adam (18 December 2019). "The Year the World Woke up to Climate Change". New Scientist. Vol. 244, no. 3261/62. pp. 20–21. Archived from the original on 22 December 2019. Retrieved 3 January 2020.
- ^ Mann 2021, Chpt 9, p230-238
- ^ Figueres 2020, Chpt 8 , p158 , p253
- ^ Mann 2021, Chpt 9, p226-230
- ^ Waldman, Scott (29 May 2020). "Cato closes its climate shop; Pat Michaels is out". E&E News. Retrieved 28 July 2020.
- ^ Pilta Clark (23 February 2021). "The new politics of climate change". Financial Times. Retrieved 6 April 2021.
- ^ a b
Peter Franklin (February 2020). "Bigger than Brexit: the new politics of climate change". unHerd. Retrieved 10 April 2021.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: uses authors parameter (link) - ^
Michael J. I. Brown (June 2019). "Why old-school climate denial has had its day". The Conversation. Retrieved 10 April 2021.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: uses authors parameter (link) - ^ "Renewables – Global Energy Review 2021 – Analysis". IEA. Retrieved 17 December 2021.
- ^ Lewis, Joanna I. (November 2021). "Green Industrial Policy After Paris: Renewable Energy Policy Measures and Climate Goals". Global Environmental Politics. 21 (4): 42–63. doi:10.1162/glep_a_00636. ISSN 1526-3800. S2CID 240142129.
- ^ Newburger, Emma (16 November 2021). "What the COP26 climate conference really accomplished". CNBC. Retrieved 17 December 2021.
- ^ "What Just Happened in Glasgow at the U.N. Climate Summit?". Audubon. 19 November 2021. Retrieved 17 December 2021.
- ^ Mann 2021, Chpt. 9. p238
- ^ Dessler 2020, Chpt. 4, p131
- ^ a b O'Callaghan, Brian; Murdock, Em (10 March 2020). "Are We Building Back Better? Evidence from 2020 and pathways to green inclusive spending" (PDF). United Nations Environment Programme.
- ^ Hepburn, Cameron; O'Callaghan, Brian; Stern, Nicholas; Stiglitz, Joseph; Zenghelis, Dimitri. "Will COVID-19 fiscal recovery packages accelerate or retard progress on climate change?". Oxford Review of Economic Policy. 36 (Supplement_1): S359–S381. doi:10.1093/oxrep/graa015.
- ^ O'Callaghan, Brian; Yau, Nigel; Hepburn, Cameron. "How Stimulating Is a Green Stimulus? The Economic Attributes of Green Fiscal Spending". Annual Review of Environment and Resources. 47. doi:10.1146/annurev-environ-112420-020640.
- ^ Mutikani, Lucia (29 July 2021). "U.S. economy contracted 19.2% during COVID-19 pandemic recession". Reuters. Retrieved 8 November 2021.
- ^ 'Boosting the EU's green recovery: Commission invests €1 billion in innovative clean technology projects' (3 July 2020)
- ^ 'Building back a green and resilient recovery' (8 July 2020) gov.uk. E McGaughey, M Lawrence and Common Wealth, 'The Green Recovery Act 2020', proposed UK law, and pdf
- ^ e.g. Tom Steyer, 'A fair, green recovery for all Californians'; New York City, COVID-19 Green Recovery.
- ^ D. Aldana Cohen, D. Kammen, J. Brave NoiseCat, et al, A green stimulus to rebuild our economy, Medium, 22 March 2020
- ^ Barbier, Ed (2010). "Green Stimulus, Green Recovery and Global Imbalances". World Economics. 11 (2): 149-177.
- ^ M Holder, 'OECD and UN institutions demand green economic recovery from Covid-19' (5 June 2020) Business Green
- ^ "Global Recovery Observatory". Oxford University Economic Recovery Project. University of Oxford, UNEP, and UNDP.
- ^ "Track public money for energy in recovery packages". Energy Policy Tracker.
- ^ "Focus on green recovery". Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development.
- ^ "Key findings – Sustainable Recovery Tracker – Analysis". IEA. Retrieved 23 July 2021.
- ^ Nahm, Jonas M.; Miller, Scot M.; Urpelainen, Johannes (2 March 2022). "G20's US$14-trillion economic stimulus reneges on emissions pledges". Nature. 603 (7899): 28–31. doi:10.1038/d41586-022-00540-6. PMID 35236968.
- ^ "England must reduce meat intake to avoid climate breakdown, says food tsar". the Guardian. 16 August 2022. Retrieved 16 August 2022.
- ^ "How Reforming Fossil Fuel Subsidies Can Go Wrong: A lesson from Ecuador". International Institute for Sustainable Development. Retrieved 19 January 2022.
- ^ "China 'can save $1.6 trillion by scrapping coal', report says". BBC News. 15 April 2021. Retrieved 15 April 2021.
- ^ IEA staffers (April 2021). "Global Energy Review 2021". International Energy Agency. Retrieved 22 April 2021.
- ^ Schnabel, Isabel (8 January 2022). "Looking through higher energy prices? Monetary policy and the green transition". European Central Bank.
- ^ Mann 2021, Chpt 1-4
- ^ Dessler 2020, Chpt 5, Section 5.2.2, p196-198
- ^ a b The Guardian, 19 July 2021 "How a Powerful U.S. Lobby Group Helps Big Oil to Block Climate Action"
- ^ Financial Times, 2 August 2021 "Fossil Fuel Groups Step Up Lobbying of SEC to Dilute Climate Reporting Rules--Oil And Gas Industry Stiffens Resistance to Tougher New Environmental Regime"
- ^ Open Democarcy, 8 July 2020 "How The Fossil Fuel Lobby Is Hijacking The European Green Deal"
- ^ The Guardian, 24 October 2019 "Fossil Fuel Big Five 'Spent €251m Lobbying EU' Since 2010; Report Comes Amid Calls for Set Up of Firewall to Protect Politics from Industry Influence"
- ^ The Guardian, 1 October 2020 "UK Held Private Talks with Fossil Fuel Firms about Glasgow Cop26--Documents Show BP, Shell and Equinor Had Several Meetings with Government Officials"
- ^ Open Democracy, 19 April 2019 "Three Ways The Fossil Fuel Industry Influences The UK Political System"
- ^ Yale Environment 360, 19 July 2019 "Fossil Fuel Interests Have Outspent Environmental Advocates 10:1 on Climate Lobbying"; Known spending (excluding "dark money" spending) by the oil and gas industry on Washington lobbyists for the year 2021 is available at: Open Secrets "Industry Profile: Oil & Gas"
- ^ a b Reuters Events, 23 November 2015 "Lobbying: Climate Change--Beware Hot Air"
- ^ The Guardian 24 October 2019 "Fossil Fuel Big Five 'Spent €251m Lobbying EU' Since 2010"
- ^ Open Secrets "Oil & Gas"
- ^ Yale Climate Connections, 6 January 2020 ["Fossil Fuel Political Giving Outdistances Renewables 13 to One; During the Latest Midterm Election Cycle, the Fossil Fuel Industry Paid at Least $359 Million for Federal Campaign Donations and Lobbying"] The figures listed in this article include only known industry spending at the federal level; they do not include political contributions at the state and local levels and "dark money" spending.
- ^ The Guardian, 24 February 2020 "Oil and Gas Industry Rewards U.S. Lawmakers Who Oppose Environmental Protections"
- ^ Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 10 March 2020 "Oil and Gas Companies Invest in Legislators that Vote Against The Environment"
- ^ Scientific American, 26 October 2015 "Exxon Knew about Climate Change Almost 40 Years Ago: A New Investigation Shows The Oil Company Understood The Science Before It Became a Public Issue And Spent Millions to Promote Misinformation"
- ^ Union of Concerned Scientists, 12 October 2017 "How the Fossil Fuel Industry Harassed Climate Scientist Michael Mann"
- ^ Weart 2015a : Global Warming Becomes a Political Issue (1980–1983); "In 1981, Ronald Reagan took the presidency with an administration that openly scorned their concerns. He brought with him a backlash that had been building against the environmental movement. Many conservatives denied nearly every environmental worry, global warming included. They lumped all such concerns together as the rants of business-hating liberals, a Trojan Horse for government regulation." For details, see Money for Keeling: Monitoring CO2
- ^ The Guardian (UK), 17 September 2019 "The Silenced: Meet The Climate Whistleblowers Muzzled by Trump--Six whistleblowers and ex-government scientists describe how the Trump administration made them bury climate science – and why they won’t stay quiet"
- ^ Union of Concerned Scientists, "Abuses of Science: Case Studies, Examples of Political Interference with Government Science Documented by The UCS Scientific Integrity Program, 2004-2009"
- ^ National Center for Science Education, "Review: The Republican War on Science, Reports of the National Center for Science Education"
- ^ Climate Science and Policy Watch, "Climate Science Censorship"
- ^ Time 29 July 2020 "Record Number of Environmental Activists Killed In 2019"
- ^ New Security Beat, 30 October 2018 "Environmental Activists Under Assault in Brazil"
- ^ Dialogo Chino, 19 April 2021 "Brazil Set to ignore Escazú Agreement that Protects Environmental Activists: With the Escazú Agreement about to enter into force across Latin America, there’s no sign the Bolsonaro government will ratify it"
- ^ The Guardian, 24 September 2019, "Revealed: How the FBI Targeted Environmental Activists in Domestic Terror Investigations: Protesters Were Characterized as a Threat to National Security in What One Calls an Attempt to Criminalize their Actions"
- ^ The Guardian, 13 January 2020, "Revealed: U.S. Listed Climate Activist Group as ‘Extremists’ Alongside Mass Killers; DHS Listed Activists Engaged in Non-Violent Civil Disobedience Targeting Oil Industry Alongside White Supremacists in Documents "
- ^ Human Rights Watch, 29 November 2019 "Targeting Environmental Activists With Counterterrorism Measures is an Abuse of the Law"
- ^ American Civil Liberties Union, 6 February 2018 "6 Ways Government Is Going After Environmental Activists"
- ^ Mann 2021, Chpt 8 , p185
- ^ Jonathan Watts (27 February 2021). "Climatologist Michael E Mann: 'Good people fall victim to doomism. I do too sometimes'". The Guardian. Retrieved 22 April 2021.
- ^ Mann 2021, Chpt 5 , p100, p107 -113
- ^ OECD (2009) Policy Guidance on Integrating Climate Change Adaptation into Development Co-operation, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, Paris.
- ^ Rabe, B.G. (2007). "Beyond Kyoto: Climate Change Policy in Multilevel Governance Systems". Governance. 20 (3): 423–44. doi:10.1111/j.1468-0491.2007.00365.x.
- ^ Editorial (November 2015). "Adaptation trade-offs". Nature Climate Change. 5 (11): 957. Bibcode:2015NatCC...5Q.957.. doi:10.1038/nclimate2853. See also Sovacool, B. and Linnér, B.-O. (2016), The Political Economy of Climate Change Adaptation, Palgrave Macmillan UK.
- ^ Dessler 2020, Chpt 5, section 5.3.2, p214-218
- ^ Ray Pierrehumbert and Michael E. Mann (22 April 2021). "Some say we can 'solar-engineer' ourselves out of the climate crisis. Don't buy it". The Guardian. Retrieved 22 April 2021.
- ^ Mock, Sarah (25 August 2021). "Meat wars: why Biden wants to break up the powerful US beef industry". the Guardian. Retrieved 19 January 2022.
- ^ "Fish 'not as carbon friendly' as previously thought". BBC News. 24 May 2021. Retrieved 19 January 2022.
- ^ Wilczek, Maria (17 January 2022). "Opposition and trade unions call for round table talks on Polish energy policy". Notes From Poland. Retrieved 19 January 2022.
- ^ "How farmers still rule Europe". The Economist. 27 May 2021. ISSN 0013-0613. Retrieved 19 January 2022.
- ^ "The power of fish". The Economist. 24 November 2018. ISSN 0013-0613. Retrieved 19 January 2022.
- ^ a b "As Economic Concerns Recede, Environmental Protection Rises on the Public's Policy Agenda / Partisan gap on dealing with climate change gets even wider". PewResearch.org. Pew Research Center. 13 February 2020. Archived from the original on 16 January 2021. (Discontinuity resulted from survey changing in 2015 from reciting "global warming" to "climate change".)
- ^ a b McGreal, Chris (26 October 2021). "Revealed: 60% of Americans say oil firms are to blame for the climate crisis". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 26 October 2021.
Source: Guardian/Vice/CCN/YouGov poll. Note: ±4% margin of error.
- ^ a b Tyson, Alec; Funk, Cary; Kennedy, Brian (1 March 2022). "Americans Largely Favor U.S. Taking Steps To Become Carbon Neutral by 2050 / Appendix (Detailed charts and tables)". Pew Research. Archived from the original on 18 April 2022.
- ^ Jones, Jeffrey M. (11 April 2022). "Climate Change Proposals Favored by Solid Majorities in U.S. / Support for Policies Designed to Limit Greenhouse Gases, by Political Party". Gallup. Archived from the original on 1 October 2022.
- ^ Poushter, Jacob; Fagan, Moira; Gubbala, Sneha (31 August 2022). "Climate Change Remains Top Global Threat Across 19-Country Survey". pewresearch.org. Pew Research Center. Archived from the original on 31 August 2022.
Only statistically significant differences shown.
- ^ "The Comparative Politics of Climate Change". ResearchGate. Retrieved 30 March 2022.
- ^ How Margaret Thatcher Made the Conservative Case for Climate Action, James West, Mother Jones, Mon 8 April 2013
- ^ An Inconvenient Truth About Margaret Thatcher: She Was a Climate Hawk, Will Oremus, Slate (magazine) 8 April 2013
- ^ a b Lieven 2020, Passim, esp. Chpt. 1
- ^ Dessler 2018, Chpt. 2, p.54
- ^ Dryzek 2011, Chpt. 10
- ^ Garmann, Sebastian (2014). "Do government ideology and fragmentation matter for reducing CO2-emissions? Empirical evidence from OECD countries". Ecological Economics. 105: 1–10. doi:10.1016/j.ecolecon.2014.05.011. ISSN 0921-8009.
- ^
Oreskes, Naomi (December 2004). "BEYOND THE IVORY TOWER: The Scientific Consensus on Climate Change". Science. 306 (5702): 1686. doi:10.1126/science.1103618. PMID 15576594.
Such statements suggest that there might be substantive disagreement in the scientific community about the reality of anthropogenic climate change. This is not the case. [...] Politicians, economists, journalists, and others may have the impression of confusion, disagreement, or discord among climate scientists, but that impression is incorrect.
- ^
America's Climate Choices: Panel on Advancing the Science of Climate Change; National Research Council (2010). Advancing the Science of Climate Change. Washington, D.C.: The National Academies Press. doi:10.17226/12782. ISBN 978-0-309-14588-6. Archived from the original on 29 May 2014.
(p1) ... there is a strong, credible body of evidence, based on multiple lines of research, documenting that climate is changing and that these changes are in large part caused by human activities. While much remains to be learned, the core phenomenon, scientific questions, and hypotheses have been examined thoroughly and have stood firm in the face of serious scientific debate and careful evaluation of alternative explanations. * * * (p21-22) Some scientific conclusions or theories have been so thoroughly examined and tested, and supported by so many independent observations and results, that their likelihood of subsequently being found to be wrong is vanishingly small. Such conclusions and theories are then regarded as settled facts. This is the case for the conclusions that the Earth system is warming and that much of this warming is very likely due to human activities.
{{cite book}}
: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) - ^
"Understanding and Responding to Climate Change" (PDF). United States National Academy of Sciences. 2008. Retrieved 30 May 2010.
Most scientists agree that the warming in recent decades has been caused primarily by human activities that have increased the amount of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere.
- ^ American Association for the Advancement of Science Statement on the Teaching of Evolution Archived 21 February 2006 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Intelligent Judging—Evolution in the Classroom and the Courtroom George J. Annas, New England Journal of Medicine, Volume 354:2277-2281 25 May 2006
- ^ Oreskes, Naomi; Conway, Erik (25 May 2010). Merchants of Doubt: How a Handful of Scientists Obsecured the Truth on Issues from Tobacco Smoke to Global Warming (first ed.). Bloomsbury Press. ISBN 978-1-59691-610-4.
- ^ Boykoff, M.T.; Boykoff, J.M. (2004). "Balance as bias: Global warming and the US prestige press". Global Environmental Change. 14 (2): 125–136. doi:10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2003.10.001.
- ^ a b Technische Problemlösung, Verhandeln und umfassende Problemlösung, (eng. technical trouble shooting, negotiating and generic problem solving capability) in Gesellschaftliche Komplexität und kollektive Handlungsfähigkeit (Societys complexity and collective ability to act), ed. Schimank, U. (2000). Frankfurt/Main: Campus, p.154-182 book summary at the Max Planck Gesellschaft Archived 12 October 2014 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ a b Of Montreal and Kyoto: A Tale of Two Protocols by Cass R. Sunstein 38 ELR 10566 8/2008
- ^ Aant Elzinga, "Shaping Worldwide Consensus: the Orchestration of Global Change Research", in Elzinga & Landström eds. (1996): 223-255. ISBN 0-947568-67-0.
- ^ a b c d Climate Change: What Role for Sociology? A Response to Constance Lever-Tracy, Reiner Grundmann and Nico Stehr, doi: 10.1177/0011392110376031 Current Sociology November 2010 vol. 58 no. 6 897-910, see Lever Tracys paper in the same journal Archived 29 April 2015 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ a b Environmental Politics Climate Change and Knowledge Politics REINER GRUNDMANN Vol. 16, No. 3, 414–432, June 2007 Archived 26 August 2014 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Ungar, Sheldon (July 2000). "Knowledge, ignorance and the popular culture: climate change versus the ozone hole, by Sheldon Ungar". Public Understanding of Science. 9 (3): 297–312. doi:10.1088/0963-6625/9/3/306. S2CID 7089937.
- ^ Michael Oppenheimer et al., The limits of consensus, in Science Magazine's State of the Planet 2008-2009: with a Special Section on Energy and Sustainability, Donald Kennedy, Island Press, 1 December 2008, separate as CLIMATE CHANGE, The Limits of Consensus Michael Oppenheimer, Brian C. O'Neill, Mort Webster, Shardul Agrawal, in Science 14 September 2007: Vol. 317 no. 5844 pp. 1505-1506 DOI: 10.1126/science.1144831
- ^ Clark, Peter U.; Shakun, Jeremy D.; Marcott, Shaun A.; Mix, Alan C.; Eby, Michael; Kulp, Scott; Levermann, Anders; Milne, Glenn A.; Pfister, Patrik L.; Santer, Benjamin D.; Schrag, Daniel P. (8 February 2016). "Consequences of twenty-first-century policy for multi-millennial climate and sea-level change". Nature Climate Change. 6 (4): 360–369. Bibcode:2016NatCC...6..360C. doi:10.1038/nclimate2923. ISSN 1758-6798.
- ^ a b c Overland, Indra; Sovacool, Benjamin K. (1 April 2020). "The misallocation of climate research funding". Energy Research & Social Science. 62: 101349. doi:10.1016/j.erss.2019.101349. ISSN 2214-6296.
References
- Dryzek, John; Norgaard, Richard; Schlosberg, David, eds. (2011). The Oxford Handbook of Climate Change and Society. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0199566600.
- IPCC (2018). Masson-Delmotte, V.; Zhai, P.; Pörtner, H.-O.; Roberts, D.; et al. (eds.). Global Warming of 1.5°C. An IPCC Special Report on the impacts of global warming of 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels and related global greenhouse gas emission pathways, in the context of strengthening the global response to the threat of climate change, sustainable development, and efforts to eradicate poverty (PDF). Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.
- Noam Chomsky and Robert Pollin (2020). Climate Crisis and the Global Green New Deal: The Political Economy of Saving the Planet. Verso Books. ISBN 978-1-78873-985-6.
{{cite book}}
: CS1 maint: uses authors parameter (link)
- Andrew Dessler , Edward A Parson (2020). The Science and Politics of Global Climate Change: A Guide to the Debate. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-1-316-63132-4.
{{cite book}}
: CS1 maint: uses authors parameter (link)
- Christiana Figueres and Tom Rivett-Carnac (2020). The Future We Choose: Surviving the Climate Crisis. Manilla Press. ISBN 978-1-838-770-82-2.
{{cite book}}
: CS1 maint: uses authors parameter (link)
- Anatol Lieven (2020). Climate Change and the Nation State. Penguin Random House. ISBN 978-0-241-39407-6.
- Michael E. Mann (2021). The New Climate War: The Fight to Take Back Our Planet. PublicAffairs. ISBN 978-1-541-75822-3.
Further reading
- Naomi Klein (2019). On Fire: The Burning Case for a Green New Deal, Allen Lane, ISBN 978-0241410721.
- "No Brainers and Low-Hanging Fruit in National Climate Policy | VOX, CEPR Policy Portal". voxeu.org. Retrieved 15 October 2021.
External links
Environmental groups
- Panda—the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF)
- Greenpeace—Greenpeace
- Stop Climate Chaos—Coalition of UK charities
Business
- Carbon Disclosure Project Carbon Disclosure Project , supported by over 150 institutional investors, aims for transparency on companies' greenhouse gas emissions
- CS1 maint: url-status
- CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list
- CS1 German-language sources (de)
- CS1 maint: uses authors parameter
- Harv and Sfn no-target errors
- Webarchive template wayback links
- Articles with short description
- Use dmy dates from July 2021
- Articles with excerpts
- All articles lacking reliable references
- Articles lacking reliable references from April 2022
- Articles containing potentially dated statements from December 2020
- All articles containing potentially dated statements
- Pages using multiple image with auto scaled images
- Climate change denial
- Environmental terminology
- Economics and climate change
- Politics of climate change
- Environmental social science
- Political economy