Reflections on the Climate Urgency and the Political Response

Abstract

Climate change is on its way to significantly impact the world economy and people’s wellbeing. It is one of the most unequal problems faced by humankind, where those who caused the problem (richer people) are much better protected from its impacts, while those at greatest risk are the poor people who contributed least to climate change. Solutions to the problem have been negotiated by countries under the UNFCCC, the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, which has proven incapable of addressing the problem at the required speed. Alternative arrangements are discussed where focus should be on a much narrower set of countries responsible for the problem and capable of financing worldwide solutions.

Climate change; UNFCCC; governance; power-balance; responsibilities