Global climate change is a major challenge of present era and the resultant climate policies have gained unprecedented importance in recent times. The impacts can be felt across all aspects of the society and state. Scientists in the west have done extensive research, contributed literature and formulated policies to address this biggest threat confronting humanity. On the contrary, the nations of global south, though are hit the hardest, but are still struggling and comparatively less weightage is given to climate policies among these nations. As people gain awareness about environmental problems, confront the effects in their daily lives in the form of wildfires, floods, heat waves and rising sea levels; their future decisions are also guided based on these happenings. Recent political shift in United States of America, Australia and Brazil is an indication of this paradigm shift. Climate change is now starting to affect politics and is becoming an issue which guides the public in deciding their leaders. Crafting a climate strategy has become a significant element in election process.
Perhaps the Trump era can be called a dark period in the US climate change policy. It is during his presidency that the US withdrew from the Paris agreement. Donald Trump reverted Obama administrations directives aimed at mitigating climate change and carbon dioxide emissions. Through multiple executive orders, Trump allowed the sponsors and expanded the oil and coal industry, slashed one-third of the existing funding of the Environmental Protection Agency and even asked for a revision of the Clean Power Strategy. We saw the public reaction in the following Presidential elections. The American public voted for the most vocal propagator of environmental protection and elected Joe Biden as their new president. President Joe Biden re-joined the Paris Agreement on his first day in office and started to make policy reforms to make USA net zero in Green House Gas emissions by 2050. Scott Morrison, the Australian Prime Minister in 2017, held up a hunk of coal in the Parliament, and said, “Don’t be scared.” This was to signify the importance that coal had in the Prime Minister’s agenda. Now, Australia is the world’s biggest exporter of coal. If the coal industry and extraction is blocked, it can have consequences for the thousands of people associated with coal related jobs. Yet, in the 2022 Federal Australian elections, the Australian public rejected Scott Morrison’s anti-climate change rhetoric and voted for the Labour Party. Labour Party accomplished a majority government and this was after 15 years, since 2007. The newly elected Australian Prime Minister Mr Anthony Albanese has promised a “new era” of climate action and energy innovation. The Prime Minister has pledged to introduce new climate legislation, including a target of net zero emissions. This result marks a strong shift in the public sentiment, as the people chose the environment over the country’s fossil fuel policy.
World’s largest Amazon Forest is in Brazil. Amazon forests act as the lungs of the world and sink large proportions of carbon dioxide. However, they also provide livelihood to the inhabitants, wherein timbering is a major source, areas are cultivated and brought under settlements. Historically, Brazil has faced a dilemma of going for the greater good of the world by following the climate protocols or choosing to allow its people to make a living from timbering. Hence, the Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro saw the environmental regulation as a hindrance to the economic growth of the nation and chose to undermine climate change protocols. However, the recent elections in October 2022 have shown that the people of Brazil do not agree with Jair Bolsonaro as they voted for the left winged Worker’s Party and elected Luiz Lula da Silva as their new president. In his victory speech, Lula said, “Brazil is ready to retake its leadership in the fight against the climate crisis, Brazil and the planet need a living Amazon.” The President also pledged to clamp down on illegal logging, mining and land grabbing that have driven the surging deforestation of the Amazon over the past years.
In Europe, we see Germany in lead for renewable and clean energy. In the neighbouring France, lawmakers have recently backed wide ranging bill that ensures a plan to enshrine environmental protection in the constitution. Human Development Index added two new factors, carbon dioxide emission and material footprint which have an enormous strain on the planet. Lately, more than 11,000 scientists signed an open letter calling for a “shift from GDP growth” towards “sustaining eco systems and improving human well-being.”
Thus, in the last three decades there has been a conceptual shift in the world. The world has gradually shifted from geo-politics, geo-economic and geo-technology to the latest geo-environment. Clausewitz’s trinity based on government, people and army was later extended to a square with addition of economics and technology. Moving forward it transformed into a pentagon with the addition of media and its forms of print, electronic and social media. Now the pentagon has become a hexagon with the latest addition of environment and its derivatives of land, air and water. Unfortunately, we the humans have been conditioned not to pre-emptily act to environmental issues. We are faithed on the dogmas of an unquestionable faith in the capacity and capability of technology and money to tame nature. Resultantly, the environmental policies are not properly and timely incorporated in the policy, planning and development strategies. Climate change polices are not a quick fix and take years to yield effects. However, in today’s globalised village where people are informed and aware, it is an established fact that environment plays a pivotal role for us and more importantly for the next generation environment is where we all meet; where we all have a mutual interest; it’s one thing all of us share. It is the need of hour to have climate leaders as global leaders. We need statesman to look beyond the myopic political interests to steer the world to a desired Global Green Regime. This is for the sake of our next generation.
–The writer is author of two books on climate change and can be reached at khalidmayo@hotmail.com