GHGs, better known as greenhouse gases. trap heat in the earth’s atmosphere. The sun shines through the atmosphere, heating the earth’s surface. During the dark hours, the earth’s surface cools, lets heat go back into the air. But some part of the heat is trapped by the GHGs in the air. That’s what maintains the earth’s temperature at a moderate 14°C (57°F).
Let’s jump back to the 18th century, when a dramatic shift occurred in human history and the Neolithic Revolution was supplant by the Industrial revolution. It started from Great Britain and spread to the rest of the world like wildfire. It completely changed the living fashion by shifting hand labour to machines, fueled by new sources of energy.
With the birth of the industrial epoch, human beings have been releasing great quantities of GHGs into the air. The burning of fossil fuels like natural gas, coal and oil – mortals significantly contribute to the amounts of carbon dioxide and other GHGs in the air, add to the rise in earth temperature.
For instance, in the 18th century, there were 280 parts per million of carbon dioxide in the air, but by 2005, the level had risen to 380 ppm. With the passage of time -as the energy usage of the world’s nations expanded, it caused the rise in earth’s temperature. So basically global warming is linked with human intervention which enhance greenhouse effects.
So who is mainly responsible for this? And why does climate justice ‘matter?
So here the question is how to combat global warming. What we can do is end reliance on fossil fuels; practise sustainable agriculture: organic farming, better forestry management; adopt a sustainable transportation habit and start use renewable energy sources. So all the nations have to put collective efforts to deal with this severe matter because climate change is a collective problem that needs collective action.
Industrial Revolution – an initiative by western world. So its main beneficiaries were ‘global north’ countries and its heavy losses were faced by ‘global south’ countries, due to global warming.
As said “climate change is hitting the poor first and worst” the periphery countries are more vulnerable to climate change and global warming than core countries. The inequality was on the basis of geography and level of development. The power of ‘north global’ countries in bargaining in the global economy has a great influence on the ‘south global’ countries.
The rich countries with plenty of resources. like the USA, Japan, Canada and other Western countries, are responsible for releasing 50 percent of earth- warming GHGs from fossil fuel and industry over the past 170 years. On the other side, the Developing countries with limited financial resources— faced the brunt of climate droughts, floods, famines, storms, sea level rise and deaths— contribute only eight percent of carbon dioxide emissions. The most recent example is Pakistan’s 2022 flood disaster which affeced more than 33 million people and claimed the lives of more than 1500 people. Pakistan is responsible for less than one percent of the world’s planet-warning gases, yet it is the eigth most vulnerable to climate crises. Hence, south global countries contribute a little but suffered a lot. That is the reason why climate justice matters.
Climate justice recognises the disproportionate impact of climate change on low income countries. They are thr people and places less responsible for this problem. Climate justice is a ‘just transition’ of economies based on fossil fuels to an equitable, renewable energy-based system.
Most vulnerable to climate change are people of communities. So climate justice places an ethical challenge. Its advocates are people from the global south and within rich countries. Climate justice mainly deals with two issues: 1. whether countries are contributing their ‘fair share’ in reducing global emissions. For this purpose the Paris Agreement was adopted by 196 countries at COP’ 21 but it does not create an obligation for signatory countries to submit their intentions to decarbonise through NDCs—Nationally Determined Contributions. There is no official way of driving up the contribution to the global effort. The advocates of climate justice argue that developed nations are often the target of criticism, but contributions are coming from emerging economies India and China too. 2. Where the financing came from to support climate change mitigation and adaptation in poor countries. The ’Paris Agreement ‘affrimed the importance of financial support from developed to developing countries. However, a promise to jointly mobilise $100 billion in Climate finance from rich to poor countries by 2020 was not met.
After innumerable fits and starts, COP’27 witnessed a win for climate. The conference agreed to set up a fund for ‘loss and Damage ‘caused by global warming, which is a key demand of many developing countries. Pakistan fought hard to include loss and damage in this agenda. Pakistan, the most affected by devastating floods, became the voice for all the countries facing climate risks.
Reports published by IPCC, the International Panel on Climate Change, on 28 February 2022, claimed that human-induced climate change is causing dangerous and widespread disruption in nature and has affected the lives and livelihood of millions.
So here the question is how to combat global warming. What we can do is end reliance on fossil fuels; practise sustainable agriculture: organic farming, better forestry management; adopt a sustainable transportation habit and start use renewable energy sources. So all the nations have to put collective efforts to deal with this severe matter because climate change is a collective problem that needs collective action.
