DEVE

Climate Justice: Keeping the right to development in mind, how can the EU exercise its moral authority to ensure a global commitment to tackle climate change, whilst safeguarding the rights of those affected most by its consequences?

Relevance of the topic

Greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, due primarily to fossil fuel use, have increased dramatically, causing an increase in Earth’s average temperature. The impacts of this unprecedented warming – floods and drought, rising sea levels, spread of diseases such as malaria and dengue fever, increasing numbers of violent storms – are to be more severe and imminent than previously believed and threaten fundamental human rights, including the rights to life, health, water, food, shelter, work and self-determination. In fact, vulnerable peoples, including women - which make up 80% of global climate refugees -, children, disabled and indigenous peoples, are particularly at risk. The actual objective of the sustainable development concept is balanced economic, social and environmental development and not defined solely in terms of economic growth. Sustainability policies in the climate change area have to be centred on the principles of equity and future justice, or how we can ensure that we have a future world to live in, without sacrificing the living standards of current generations, both developed and developing. The Office of the High Commissioner on Human Rights (OHCHR), in its March 2009 study on climate change and human rights. noted that climate change is a global problem that can only be effectively addressed through international cooperation, as it affects disproportionately poorer countries with the weakest ability to protect their citizens. It also emphasizes States’ obligations under international human rights law and the right to development, proclaimed by the United Nations (UN) in the Declaration on the Right to Development, to protect individuals whose rights are affected by the impacts of climate change or by policies to address climate change. Yet, so far, governments and international cooperation have been unsuccessful in solving the climate change issue. Thus, following on the right to development and taking into account the disproportion of both GHG emissions, that are and were historically mostly emitted by developed countries, and the fact that most of the consequences are being undertaken by developing nations due to differential factors such as income, race, class, gender, capital and political representation, arises the concept of climate justice and of common but differentiated responsibilities, which is central to the climate change regime.

Key Conflicts

The idea that climate change is solely an environmental issue misses the bigger picture - climate change represents and perpetuates power imbalances across the world. The industrialised nations of the Global North emit about 80% of global greenhouse gases, while developing nations from the Global South face the worst impacts.

Image 1 - Climate Change Impact in 2050

The areas in red, mostly closer to the equator, will be affected the most. They include central South America, the Arabian Peninsula and most of Africa. Note that the United States and Europe are projected to have moderate-to-mild impact. Furthermore, although the UN has recognised the category of environmental and climate refugees, they are not protected by international law and asylum systems, nor states in European Union, several of which are currently closing their borders to refugees and building fences. Developing countries lack the resources to address this new environmental and social threat that is climate change. Least developed countries are especially vulnerable, since their budget is stretched to meet basic needs, such as access to food, water, and housing. So, the debate centers on the obligation of industrialized states - due to historical responsibility - and international organizations to provide development assistance to developing countries, and the current controversy also focuses on the process of globalization, including the right and possibility of equal participation of developing countries in that process, and its relation to human rights. However, the climate change fight is useless if only developed countries reduce their emissions. Developing countries, especially the most advanced ones, need to take a part too. In fact the EU’s stance is that financial support to developing countries should be based on "low carbon development strategies" developed by them. These should set out which measures a country can take without additional financial and technical assistance. The European Commission also proposes that developed countries can contribute via the use of carbon crediting mechanisms and public funding. Public financial contributions should be based on emission levels and each country’s economic capability, as well as comparable between them. Evaluating the effectiveness of international cooperation in addressing climate change is a complex undertaking. From the one perspective, the fact that countries are implementing the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, the Kyoto Protocol and the Paris Agreement, three major international treaties on the topic, would suggest that they have sought to cooperate. From another point of view, if the duty to cooperate requires solutions to the climate change problem, it could be regarded as a failure of countries to effectively cooperate the fact that the actual and impending consequences of climate change are increasing in intensity. In fact, it clearly shows the failure to arrive at a binding agreement providing for effective mitigation, adaptation and other climate measures. Among the criticism made to the more recent Paris Agreement is the fact that the contribution that each individual country should make in order to achieve the worldwide goal is determined by all countries individually. Also, the country's emissions targets themselves are not binding as a matter of international law, unlike the ones in the Kyoto Protocol, and there is no enforcement if a set target is not met. This is due to a number of big emitting emerging economies - including China, India and South Africa - being unwilling to sign up to a condition that they felt could hamper their economic growth and development. However, the regular review and submission of emission reduction targets will be binding and so too will the $100 billion fund from developed economies to help emerging and developing nations decarbonise their energy mix. The funding will come from a wide variety of public and private, bilateral and multilateral, and alternative sources of finance in the context of meaningful mitigation action and transparent implementation by developing countries.

Despite this, as you can see in Picture 2, the predictions are still that temperature will rise 2,7ºC by 2100 even if all the Paris Agreement conditions are met, which is well above the 2ºC threshold. This calls for further measures and raises the question on whether a global power shift from fossil fuels in which fossil fuels would no longer be the cheaper fuel is the only way the global climate change threat could be truly addressed and tackled effectively.