environmental

• The global commons are resources or areas that lie outside the political reach of any one nation-state. They include the high seas, atmosphere, the polar regions and outer space. The tragedy of the commons is the idea that, where all resources are shared, they will be misused or depleted due to the self-interest of individual states. Users act according to their own needs and behave contrary to the common good of all users.
• By 2016, the world's top 3 polluters - China, India and the US - had all signed the 2015 Paris Agreement. Trump withdrew from it, but Biden reversed that as soon as he came into office in 2020.
• Extinction Rebellion focuses on direct, often disruptive, action and aims to go 'beyond politics', calling for independent citizen assemblies to guide government action. They have generated significant media coverage and public attention, growing rapidly to global prominence. Its campaign has garnered both support and public upset for causing disturbances.
• An international NGO established in 1969, Greenpeace combines direct action with participation in the UN system, as it has been given consultative action within ECOSOC and can present its arguments at UN meetings. Greenpeace raises about $8 million per year from private donations and some of its efforts, such as lobbying India to put forward a clean air action plan, have been successful.
• The World Wide Fund for Nature focuses on influencing governments through advocacy and awareness-raising with prominent celebrities (like David Attenborough) rather than direct action. Its campaigns against whaling in the Antarctic have seen a blue whale population increase in recent years, with humpback whale numbers returning to close to pre-whaling numbers. Wildlife law enforcement work has seen positive signs of illegal poaching reducing in many African countries.
• International celebrity advocate, Attenborough’s documentaries such as 'Planet Earth' and 'A Life on our Planet' have highlighted climate change and the vulnerability of various species. Attenborough has addressed several UN climate change summits along with other prominent activists such as Greta Thunberg. Reaching a global audience through Netflix, the documentaries have been watched by millions, raising awareness among many who may not have otherwise engaged with pressure groups or NGOs.
• Global civil society and NGOs can attract significant funding to carry out projects that governments are unwilling or unable to, but they can’t take large-scale strategic decisions that lie with national governments, for example to commence widespread de-carbonisation.
• Global civil society and NGOs can attract/utilise prominent celebrity activists to raise awareness, but some direct action tactics have been criticised for taking away from the main message of the campaign.
• Shallow ecologists advocate reformist measures of sustainable development. They argue that:

  • it is acceptable to approach environmental issues from the perspective of what will benefit humans
  • sustainable development is a priority as it combines conserving the natural environment with advancing human development
• Deep ecologists criticise shallow greens for being anthropocentric. They advocate for a radical paradigm shift and ecocentric approach, with ideas including population control, zero economic growth and a shift away from materialism to 'being, not having'. They argue that:

  • all living things are of equal moral value, and any action that fails to preserve this equality is morally wrong
  • human beings and nature are one and the same and should live with one another holistically
• Developing states have raised grievances such as the fact that currently developed states did not have to consider the environment when they were industrialising and were unrestricted by environmental regulations; environmental regulations may impact developing states’ progress; carbon energy is cheaper than cleaner sources of green energy; developed states caused much of the existing pollution and climate change.
• Emissions in developing states are rapidly increasing - scientists have estimated that if India’s economic growth continues at its current rate, its emissions will soon reach one-fifth of the total world emissions that the earth can cope with before exceeding a harmful 2°C temperature increase. The poorest states are the most vulnerable to the effects of climate change such as flooding and natural disasters, which will impact economic development there.
• India signed and ratified the Paris Agreement in 2016, promising to generate 40% of energy from clean sources by 2030 (at an estimated cost of $2.9 trillion). Brazil has also signed the agreement and promised to increase renewable energy resources to 45% of all energy consumption by 2030 as well as decrease deforestation in the Amazon rainforest. After the election of President Jair Bolsonaro in 2019, however, deforestation increased again by 34% in 2019 alone.
• 90% of African Union nations have ratified the Paris Agreement and climate change is frequently on the agenda of their summits.
• Realists believe that climate change should only be addressed once other states also address it, and all states should move forward at a similar pace - one state should not take more action than another. Any action taken should not harm the economy and allow rival states to take economic advantage. If a measure is likely to harm a state’s economy, they shouldn’t take action, but if inaction will harm them, they should.
• Liberals believe that climate change is a collective problem and global governance is required to fix it. the global commons is a resource from which all states benefit and therefore all states should protect it. IGOs provide a useful forum for states to discuss climate change, agree to international law and hold states accountable for their promises. Developed states should help developing states to take action on climate change.
• The UNFCCC was agreed in 1992 at the Rio Earth Summit. A total of 197 states - including all of the UN’s member states - are ‘parties to’ the UNFCCC. Withdrawing from an international treaty with as much international recognition and legitimacy as the UNFCCC would be very politically controversial, pressuring states and governments to stick with the commitments made by their predecessors.
• In the UNFCCC, ‘Annex 1 & 2’ countries, such as the USA, UK, Germany and Canada, are expected to do the most to cut emissions and give financial assistance to ‘Non-annex 1’ countries, such as China and India. ‘Economies in transition’, which include Russia, Turkey and Poland, are neither expected to receive or provide financial assistance.
• As part of the UNFCCC, developed countries are asked to do the most since they are the source of most past and current greenhouse gas emissions. Developed countries are asked to help developing states tackle climate change through financial support.
• UNFCCC


  The UN Framework Convention on Climate Change
• IPCC


  The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change
• Created by the UN in 1988, the IPCC is an international panel of climate change experts to provide states and policymakers with expert advice on the causes and impacts of, as well as possible solutions to, climate change.
• The IPCC regularly assesses the impact and extent of climate change as well as its causes and risks, allowing regular tracking of progress on climate change, a strong evidence base to persuade states to act, and viable solutions for actions to reduce climate change. Pooling the expertise of scientists from across the world ensures that evidence for climate change is not seen to come from any one state. However, although the IPCC advises governments, it cannot force them to uphold this advice.
• The Kyoto Protocol (1997)


  Endorsed legally binding targets to reduce emissions, required of 37 industrialised states and the EU. Industrialised states were committed to reducing emissions by 5% between 2008 and 2012. The treaty also set up an international trading system, where states could contribute to their emissions targets by investing in reducing emissions in other states.
• Strengths of the Kyoto Protocol (1997)


  The UN estimated that emissions by states that pledged to stricter targets from 2013 to 2020 had reduced their emissions by 25% before 2018. The EU also reduced its emissions by around 8%.
• Weaknesses of the Kyoto Protocol (1997)


  100 developing states including Brazil, China, India and South Africa were exempt from emissions targets. The protocol did not come into force until 2005, 7 years before the initial expiry date of the treaty. While states deliberated, emissions were supposed to be decreasing, but rose by 40-50% between 1990 and 2009. The US and Canada also withdrew from the treaty. China, which was exempt, is estimated to have emissions that rose nearly 300% during the treaty’s lifetime.
• The Paris Agreement (2015)


  At COP 21 in Paris, the Paris Agreement was the first treaty that committed all states to legally binding admissions reductions. 190 states had joined by 2021, which were collectively responsible for over 95% of global carbon emissions and included both the US and China. NDCs, where states could outline their own contributions, were implemented to close the gap between developed and developing states.
• Strengths of the Paris Agreement (2015)


  Allowing states to make their own commitments has encouraged every state to pledge emissions targets. States such as China and India are acutely aware of the dangers of climate change. Developed and developing states agree that they need to take action, with no exemptions but the freedom to decide what action is most appropriate
• Weaknesses of the Paris Agreement (2015)


  The pledges that states can and have made are insufficient in limiting global temperature rises below 2 degrees. Individual states do not face penalties for not meeting targets despite the agreement becoming legally binding in 2016. There is too little power within the treaty to question whether states are proposing sufficient action, and a major polluter and world power failed to remain committed to the agreement when Trump withdrew the US in 2020.
• The Rio Earth Summit (1992) set up the framework and principles for all future summits (UNFCCC), enabling states to make more detailed progress and leading to an international agreement that there was a problem and it should be solved by collective action, but they only agreed to principles, not specific actions.
• The COP 15 summit in Copenhagen (2009) introduced new financial support for developing states and agreement to limit temperature rises to 2°C, but failed to set up any new emissions targets. It also did not include any legally binding targets or plan for agreements to become legally binding, but China and India did agree to reduce carbon emissions for the first time.