Cathie Lloyd argues that the capture of COP29 by fossil fuel mega capitalism is a warning sign of the intensification of manoeuvrings around the environment crisis expressed through increasingly unequal social relations.
The different dimensions to this inequality are both the long-term consequences and immediate impacts; a great variety of local and global effects; and ways in which the crises affect different groups such as the very young and the very old, according to gender, and to social class.
First the Local/Global dimension provides a context for our understanding. Oxfam has produced an impressive slew of reports which throw light on the unequal causes and impact of the climate crisis at an international level. In Carbon inequality kills, published in partnership with the Stockholm Environment Institute, they draw attention to the impact of powerful individuals and groups ranging from those who own planes and yachts to those who take cruises or fly to their holidays.
They find that in 2019 (the latest available figures) the top 1% of superrich were responsible for 16% of global carbon emissions, which is the same as the total emissions of the poorest 66% of humanity (5 billion people).
With climate chaos, above (or below) average temperatures impact greatly on the very young or the elderly, and in all age ranges, on people with disabilities who rely on a stable environment.
Those who shoulder caring roles, particularly women living in rural areas, have to deal with the immediate burden of climate vagaries in sourcing clean water or cultivating land (women are the majority of farmers in many countries) hit by drought or flooding.
Oxfam concludes: ‘only a radical reduction in inequality, transformative climate action and fundamentally shifting our economic goals can a society save our planet while ensuring wellbeing for all’.
The report cites Greta Thunberg: ‘we must stop pursuing infinite growth on a finite planet … It is a racist, sexist economic system, built on exploitation of people and natural resources. The focus on economic growth of any kind and endless extraction and overconsumption at any cost must end. People should be put back in charge of their destiny, and democratically elected government, not corporates, should shape our economy.’
Oxfam highlight three ways in which the super-rich determine how the story of the climate crisis is told to the public: through their own activity in producing emissions, through investments and shareholdings in heavily polluting industries and their own interests in the status quo and their influence through the media, the economy and policy making. They describe this situation as ‘climate apartheid’ thus skewing our individual attempts to limit the crisis.
Given this political climate, it is significant that the UK has been identified of one of the most repressive in taking action against climate protestors and noteworthy that the Labour government is planning to ride roughshod over local democracy in ‘reforming’ planning laws.
This has implications for our ability to democratically determine our own environmental and energy policies. Surely it is crucial that people can see the advantage for their own living standards in new policies formulated to cope with the climate crisis, otherwise sectional and self-serving grievances that people have in relation to their access to goods in our current consumer society are likely to overwhelm and defeat the broader interest that we all have in achieving a liveable planet?
Published 7 January 2025