Atif Mehmood
The irony surrounding the current climate change is that the countries which contribute the least to climate change, are those that are currently being adversely impacted by climate change. The developed world is yet insulated from the destructive effect of climate change, but the developing world is being systematically brought down by the ravages of floods, heat waves, drought, and other natural disasters. This phenomenon is often referred to as climate colonialism.
Over the last two centuries, the industrialised world has also ignited its own industrial revolution with the massive consumption of coal, oil, and gas resources. The success of the U.K., U.S.A., Germany, and other industrialised countries was made possible, apart from their fossil fuel resources, by resources mined from colonised countries. The same countries are today home to over 50 percent of the cumulative carbon dioxide emissions throughout history. The U.S.A. alone is today accountable for about 20 percent of cumulative carbon dioxide emissions since the industrial revolution, while the countries of the South today are emitting less than 1% carbon dioxide but are experiencing the worst impacts of climate change.
Take, for example, Pakistan, which contributes less than 1% of the world’s carbon emission, but is one of the 10 countries that are most vulnerable to the effect of climate change. However, the injustice also exists with regards to the response to climate solution interventions. This is because, each time climate summits draw nearer, the developed countries promise developing countries billions of dollars towards the adaptation to the climate change or the adoption of the clean sources of energy. However, these promises are yet to be met.
Climate colonialism is more than just carbon emission or the current state of foreign aid. Climate colonialism is also about who is calling the shots on how climate change is going to be fixed, who is in control of the climate negotiations, or who will enjoy the benefits of the green revolution. The European countries, in partnership with their corporations, are leading the way in the development of alternative sources of energy. Also, developing countries are left out because of the cost, the barriers of trade, or lack of technology transfer.
However, the same Western-supported fossil fuel projects are still occurring in Africa and South Asia today. Such projects are neither regional nor local but are political in orientation instead. Nature has also become the tool of the newest form of global trade system, yet unfair and unjust to the developing countries instead. Carbon markets, led by corporations from the developed countries, are composed of buying lands in the developing countries to create forests or protect existing ones instead. Such corporations can freely release carbon dioxide into the air without penalty due to their climate “neutrality” instead. The said system encourages the developing world’s way of life to be sacrificed for the developed world, which can freely destroy the environment without penalty instead.
Such inequality is an essence of the same exploitative dynamics which characterised the colonialism era. The matter is clearly not one of the responsibility of developing countries in the way of stopping climate change. They, of course, have the responsibility. However, justice must be served in the way that those who caused the problem must be most responsible for solving the problem itself. Climate finance cannot be philanthropic in the way that it is only about repairing the problem of the future.
We are now facing the defining decade, and the globe is already warming by 1.2 degrees off the levels before the industrial period. The difference between 1.5 degrees and 2 degrees of warming may be the difference between the least possible harm and the catastrophe that is beyond repair, especially with the already vulnerable areas of the world. Meanwhile, the net-zero postures are bandied about in the world of the Global North, but the way to the end is often determined on the grounds of political expediency, rather than anything resembling international cooperation.
There is another way forward. There is one that is climate justice, with the ethos of the world being fair on climate change matters. What is required is a “decolonised” climate politics. What has to be undone is the illusion of the global leadership of Western countries on the climate change agenda, because, in essence, these countries are some of the leading causes of the problem itself.
What needs to be remedied is the focus of climate funds from prevention to the reversal of the “loss and damage” that is now being incurred today. The colonial period was marked by resource extraction, as well as narrative control. Today, the same is evident in the area of climate change, carbon markets, or climate technology control itself.
Climate colonialism is more than just metaphorical language, but instead is the reality itself. The system, much like the previous one, is the same even if the players are different, or if the technology is different itself. Rather than appropriating resources, the West, through their green policies, controls the future of the South itself.
The Global South does not need charity. The Global South looks for equality. The reason the Global South wants to be part of international gatherings is that their voices must be counted in the application of solutions to prevent climate change. Mostly, the Global South wants the right to design their own future instead of footing the bill for one that is not of their choosing.
However, if we are committed to solving the climate crisis, we must also confront the colonial roots of the problem. A solution to the climate crisis on these lines will be impossible without achieving global equity. Not only must we pay credit for the part that industrialised countries have played in the climate crisis, but we must also show respect for the work already being done on the front lines if we hope to create a sustainable future, much less an equitable one.
The writer works in search & advertising at Microsoft Ireland, with a master’s degree in business and computer science. The author can be reached at atif@live.ie.
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