Climate change, climate justice

While studying in Talloires, France last summer, I visited the United Nations headquarters in Geneva with my Environmental Economics class and listened to two representatives from the United Nations Environmental Program (UNEP) discuss their work. They outlined a series of goals for sustainable development worldwide, one of which was the idea that sustainable development must happen in conjunction with poverty reduction.

At the end of the talk, I asked them if they had any specific policy ideas to help achieve that goal. The two representatives fumbled in their responses and essentially admitted that they didn’t have any specific policies in mind.

I don’t know whether these representatives’ disappointing responses to my question were reflective of the entire UNEP program. But I do know that solving climate change while decreasing international and national inequalities is one of the greatest challenges our generation faces. Though we know how to reduce emissions -- stop subsidizing fossil fuels and switch to renewables -- we need to a) create political will, and b) address environmental injustices.

Climate change will exacerbate existing inequalities, as it most harshly impacts poor countries that lack resources to adapt to climate change and marginalized peoples within developing countries that already receive the least protection and benefits from their governments. Of course, there are many other issues associated with climate change (loss of biodiversity, reduced food security, ocean acidification, etc.), but so many of them will disproportionately affect poorer, non-white, marginalized peoples. It is therefore illogical and unjust to solve climate change, a phenomenon that will increase inequality, if doing so continues to exacerbate inequalities.

We know that we can reduce emissions in the United States by taxing carbon emissions and eliminating fossil fuel subsidies. These taxes generally increase gas prices, encourage green energy and discourage gas-guzzling cars. Sounds smart, right? But the costs of increased gas prices could also increase our country’s ever-widening inequality gap, as low-income Americans would be forced to pay a higher portion of their income on gas. Furthermore, low-income neighborhoods often have the worst access to public transportation infrastructure as an alternative to driving.

Another way to reduce emissions is to invest in renewable infrastructure. Massachusetts has approved the country’s first offshore wind-energy plant, Cape Wind, off the coast of Nantucket Sound. But the project faces opposition from many groups, one being indigenous peoples. According to indigenous representatives, the project would “destroy a sacred site and destroy cultural traditions.” Just as fossil fuel companies have historically extracted energy from indigenous lands, disregarding their cultural and human rights, nonrenewable energy companies will perpetuate similar practices if we do not establish policies that prohibit companies from violating human rights.

Measures to reduce emissions, such as carbon taxes, must include methods for low-income people to receive tax deductions so that they are not disproportionately affected by it. Clean public transport must be built for all peoples -- not just people living near Boston’s Red Line but also people living near Roxbury, one of the most populated and racially diverse areas of Boston, where residents have the polluting, slow, unreliable Silver Line bus system as their only public transport option. Furthermore, building fossil-free infrastructure cannot be done with the same disregard for human rights as practiced by fossil fuel companies.

There are many issues stopping the world from addressing climate change -- a big one is the money and power held by the fossil fuel industry, which certainly must be addressed. But it’s also important to ensure that the transition to clean energy is done justly, for the benefit of all peoples. Considering that the UNEP representatives in Geneva had no idea how to achieve this goal, our generation needs to do better as we (hopefully) shift away from fossil fuels.