Write the given paper assignment.
Write theory and history on the paper.
The Politics of Climate Change
What is Climate Change
• 97 per cent of research endorses the view that climate change is man made
• It is due to the release of greenhouse gases
• These absorb heat from the sun, which is vital for human life (they keep the earth warm), but in greater quantities they will cause warming
• These greenhouse gases are introduced to the atmosphere through the burning offossil fuels, agriculture and deforestation
• Climate change is already happening; temperatures have increased by 0.7 Degrees Celsius since the industrial revolution
• The big fear is that temperatures will rise above 2 Degrees Celsius
• This may lead the Antarctic and Greenland ice sheets melting, leading to massive sealevel rises, also more extreme weather, drought, etc
Whose Fault is Climate Change
• China is by far the world's largest polluter today
• But China produces a lot of goods consumed by others, and their percapita emissions are well below that in the US
• Historically the blame lies with the west, with the US being the largest contributor of global CO2 over the past two hundred years
The Politics of Climate Change
• It has been extraordinarily difficult to make a multilateral deal on climate change
• This is for a variety of reasons:
• The costs of climate change differ greatly depending on geography
• Cold and large northern states like Canada and Russia will benefit ,more land will be agriculturally useful, few of their cities will face flooding risk, and their economies benefit from selling fossil fuels
• The cost for rich countries like the US will also be relatively minimal
• Forsmall,poor,andlowlyingcountries,theeffectsofclimatechangecouldbeabsolutely devastating
• Who should take the burden of adjustment
• Basically who is morally responsible for climate change
• The developing world believe the developed countries should take on the responsibilities, they have caused the majority of the emissions, and have economically benefitted from these omissions
• Developing countries believe that they have the right to development, and cheap energy through fossil fuels is an essential part of this
• Thedevelopedworldfeelthatthiswillnotwork,thedevelopingworldisnowthemajor emitter of CO2 and therefore they need to contribute
• A collective action problem
• States have an incentive to free ride and hope others reduce their emissions
• Everyone benefits from mitigation even if they don't take part
• But countries have very little incentive to act unilaterally
• EvenifabigpolluterliketheUSactedonitsownitwouldprobablymakelittledifference in the long run unless others followed
• It may even have a negative effect, because others may feel even less need to reduce their own emissions
Multilateral Climate Deals
• A history of failure
• United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) established in 1992
• Called for the voluntary reduction of greenhouse gases to 1990 levels
• Conference of Parties to the UNFCCC, which we are now at 22
• And have up until Paris got nowhere
• But the Paris agreement is reliant on states setting their own targets for reductions
• And Donald Trump has said he will scrap the Paris Agreement
Readings
• Keohane,R.(2015)TheGlobalPoliticsofClimateChange:ChallengeforPoliticalScience. PS: Political Science &Politics48:19-26.https://depts.washington.edu/envirpol/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/Keohane2015.pdf
• Gilley, B & Kinsella, D. (2015) Coercing Climate Action. Survival 57(2): 7-28.
Length : 2 pages paper.