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{{cquote|Climate Justice: Keeping the right to development in mind, how can the EU exercise its soft power to ensure a global commitment to tackle climate change, whilst safeguarding the rights of those affected most by its consequences?}}
In August 2013 floods inundated up to one-fifth of Pakistan and affected an estimated 20 million people.<ref>"5 natural disasters that beg for climate action", retrieved from: https://www.oxfam.org/en/campaigns/5-natural-disasters-beg-climate-action#</ref> In 2014, at least 14 extreme weather events were caused by human-induced climate change, including a deadly snowstorm in Nepal and a heat wave in Argentina that crashed power supplies. <ref>"Half of Weather Disasters Linked to Climate Change", retrieved from: http://news.nationalgeographic.com/2015/11/151105-climate-weather-disasters-drought-storms/</ref> Climate change is affecting the life of millions, thereby threatening basic human rights. Coordinated and efficient International Cooperation are key to minimize human influence on climate, as well as to help developing countries - who are affected the most by climate change - to deal with the economical and social damage. How can the EU contribute to this global cause that calls for international solidarity and cooperation as never witnessed before in history?
== Relevance of the topic ==
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 GHGs<ref>"Climate change is not just an environmental issue – it’s about justice", retrieved from: https://europa.eu/eyd2015/en/friends-earth-europe/posts/climate-change-human-rights</ref>, while developing nations from the Global south face the worst impacts. In fact, global warming poses a threat to the survival of some vulnerable southern countries - rising sea levels will contaminate the drinking water, damage the agriculture and infrastructure, and threaten biodiversity in the coastal areas, making them uninhabitable. It is even predicted that entire cities, such as Rotterdam and Sydney could flood. Similarly, some islands in Africa, Asia and South America are facing the risk of disappearing under water.<ref>"Sea-Level Rise and Impacts in Africa, 2000 to 2100. Application of the DIVA model to Africa.", retrieved from: https://www.weadapt.org/knowledge-base/economics-of-adaptation/impacts-of-sea-level-rise-in-africa</ref>
So, the debate centres on the obligation of industrialised states - due to '''historical responsibility''' - and international organisations to provide development assistance to developing countries and to invest in energy, proportionate to what they emit and use. On the one hand we have "the West", mainly responsible historically for emitting the most GHGs. Even though they share a set of common values, when it comes to climate justice, the ideas and policies of the EU and the USA vary widely. In 2015, USA's GHGs totaled 6,587 million metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalents making it the second largest GHG’s emitter. <ref>Article “Inventory of U.S. Greenhouse Gas Emissions and Sinks”, retrieved from: https://www.epa.gov/ghgemissions/inventory-us-greenhouse-gas-emissions-and-sinks</ref> Moreover, the current Trump administration supports the fossil fuel industry and has recently '''dropped out of the Paris Agreement''', which could severely weaken the US’ environmental policy and thereby also the '''chances of mitigating the effects of climate change.'''
On the other side of the spectrum, developing countries '''lack the resources''' to address the environmental and social threat of 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.
The current controversy also focuses on the process of globalisation, including the right and possibility of equal participation of developing countries in that process, and its relation to human rights. A number of big emitting emerging economies are reluctant to agree to a condition that they feel can hamper their economic growth and development. However, '''the climate change will not be sufficiently addressed if only developed countries reduce their emissions'''. Developing countries, especially the most advanced ones, need to take a part too. For example, the four largest developing nations - '''Brazil, Russia, India and China''' (also called the '''BRIC’s''') - with a combined population of 3 billion people, will have a huge impact on the future of climate change. Also, among the '''southern countries''' we see significant differences when it comes to targeting climate change. For instance, the '''priorities''' of the Alliance of Small Island States are taking a different path to that of most of the least developed countries because they are most at risk of being affected by the rising sea levels. They demonstrated strong initiative in striving toward legally binding emissions targets and financing whereas the majority of '''least developed countries''' has been stuck in a rhetoric of '''mistrust and historical responsibility''' at the expense of negative-sum results.
[[File:Climateimpacts.jpg|thumb|Climate Change Impact in 2050]]