Transcript The Politics of Climate Change

The Politics of Climate
Change
Peter Newell
CSGR
University of Warwick
School of Development Studies
University of East Anglia
[email protected]
The Politics of Climate Change
• Science: consensus and uncertainty
• Scale of problem: dispersed, local•
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global
Potential costs involved
Equity: North-South
Equity: Intergenerational
Power of opposition
Unprecedented level of cooperation
required
The Politics of Climate Change
• Disputes over responsibility: Burden of
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action, funding
Disputes over institutions: GEF, fines
for non-compliance?
Disputes over solutions: Role of
technology
Disputes over solutions: Role of
markets
Science and knowledge
• Consensus always fragile especially
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when the stakes are high
Organised science makes a
difference; epistemic communities
Have to deflect challenges to their
authority, protect their access to
policy-makers
Other knowledge forms equally key:
economics, technology
Role of North-South politics
• Can lead to stalemate over responsibility for causes and
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burden for taking action
Sensitive issue of future contribution of NICs and LDCs:
New approaches? Staged commitments, multi-track
negotiating processes
Requires careful coalition building and innovative issuelinkages to issues of aid, trade, debt
Contests over appropriate policy tools: use of aid, export
credit screening, which institution to oversee
implementation
Splits between North-South opens up possibilities for
‘winning coalitions’
Taking equity seriously: Not a technical issue about
efficiency and savings. Sensitivities about vulnerability,
obligation and justice
Justice and Climate Change
• Those who bear the worst effects
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contribute to the problem least
Those who contribute most are best
placed to adapt
Vulnerability cuts across nations:
Poverty, gender and class
The South as Sink: Solutions which
displace problem to the global South
Supportive role of private
sector
• Experts through experience
• Command of technologies and production
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processes for delivering environmental goods
Contribution to the economy
Potential veto coalition, non compliance
Potential drivers of standards within regimes:
Exporting environmentalism
Private regimes and investment flows often have
greater ecological significance than rules set at
the global level
Leading by example (STEPS)
Street level bureaucrats
Vocal campaigning by civil
society
• Support positive and ambitious policy positions;
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strengthen position of sympathetic elements
within government
Mobilise public support around strong treaties
Expose recalcitrants in negotiations; maintain
pressure
Expose non-compliance at national level
Also provide expertise, sit on delegations
Magnify voice of weaker and most affected
developing countries
The Rise of Civil Regulation
• Frustration with pace and progress of inter-state
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negotiations
Direct targeting of key polluters
Plays on strengths and weaknesses of business
Manifested in range of liberal and critical forms of
governance/regulation
Linked to corporate accountability movements,
anti-globalisation and Climate Justice groups
Liberal Civil Regulation
• CSC: Labelling and certification
• Business case for climate change:
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Climate Group, Pew Centre
GHG Registry: Pew, WBCSD, WRI, WWF
Project specific collaborations
Responsible Investor: USS Pension Fund
campaign, good corporate governance
Working with: Persuasion, (Leggett and
insurance industry); UNEP Statement
Critical Civil Regulation
•Consumer boycotts (Exxon etc)
•Company-specific campaigns (Stop Esso)
•Shareholder Activism (CERES and ICCR): Threats of
Divestment
•Targeting banks: JP Morgan Chase: Assessing
financial risks in loan evaluations
•Direct Action: Rising Tide, Greenpeace (Drax etc)
•Resistance to market mechanisms: Voluntarism,
Chicago Carbon Exchange, CDM, emissions trading
•Broader critique of limits of marketisation
Conclusions
• Addressing blind-spots in climate governance:
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Beyond the public
Policy coherence and integration
Building new cross-sectoral coalitions
Working at all levels: Local – Global
Change at material, institutional and cultural level
Personal responsibility plus broader political
change