Key messages >>>
- Climate change is a common and converging partisan issue in electoral politics in India, a major player in climate change from the Global South.
- Climate change is at the risk of becoming a polarizing issue in electoral politics in the Global North as seen from recent experiences in Australia and the United States.
- Rise of Green Parties in Europe even as opposition parties from recent experiences in Sweden and Germany brings hope for the future.
- Even in the presence of climate denialism, climate change is taken as a serious issue by opposition parties, leaders and sub-national governments.
- Momentum from citizens and youth movements around the world will continue to grow.
India
This month saw the comeback of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), a right-wing political party, in India which is the world’s largest electoral democracy. Climate change as an agenda for political parties may not have been at the forefront, but it has been acquiring the political visibility as seen in the manifestoes of the two largest political parties BJP and the Indian National Congress. The manifesto of the right-wing BJP party talks of India influencing and championing the global issue of climate change.
Australia
Climate change was pitted as a major issue and a deciding variable in the recently concluded elections in Australia. From the increasing sea temperatures and ocean acidification killing the Great Barrier Reef, to droughts, floods, extreme precipitation events, heatwaves and wildfires, the risks to the population and the need for stringent policies to counter the effects of climate change was a major political agenda in these elections. On the economic front, being the world’s largest coal exporter, and coal being the largest source of greenhouse gas emissions, Australia exercises outsized influence in the climate stakes. However, in a result that stunned most analysts and the world, Australians shrugged of genuine environmental concerns and re-elected the climate sceptic conservative coalition to power.
A key question
A key question from the experience of the recent election results from these two democracies is whether climate change will evolve as an issue which results in polarization across party lines as in case of Australia or a common-partisan issue in electoral politics as in case of India.
Climate change as a global issue
Internationally, the climate change as an issue gained momentum with the establishment of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) in 1988 and eventually leading to an international climate change regime for multilateral action anchored in a framework and protocol approach anchored in the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), the latest agreement of which is the Paris climate agreement. However, the failure of get global consensus, often with major powers such as Canada and the United States not ratifying or pulling out of the treaties, proved to be a major hindrance in implementation of climate agreements.
Role of the state machinery
In recent times when we are witnessing climate marches across the world with grassroots activism and common citizens taking the lead to counter the perils of climate change, it’s important to see how political parties disseminate and communicate the agenda of climate change to their constituents. Eventually, it is the state machinery along with elected governments who are responsible for policy making on climate change domestically as well as for international climate negotiations which will bear implications for generations to come.
Green politics in Europe
Known for propagating “Green Politics” that preaches environmentalism and social justice, political parties have succeeded in garnering public support for their progressive and sustainable policies. The rise of Green Parties in Europe is an evidence of this phenomena. Sweden, in 2014, saw the Green Party form the government together with the Social Democrats and became the sixth largest party during 2018 elections. Similarly, in Germany, the Green Party has now become a part of Germany’s mainstream center-left, with significant vote-share during the 2018 elections in states like Bavaria and Hesse. In national polls, the Green Party is ranked second with seats in 14 of Germany’s 16 state legislatures.
European Union election
For the EU elections this year, climate change has been a pertinent issue for all major political parties. The Labour party devoted an entire page of its manifesto to “tackling climate change and protecting our planet” – highlighting its commitment to the Paris agreement, and reinstating EU’s pledge “to commit to 60% of the UK’s energy supply from renewable or low-carbon sources by 2030, and net zero carbon emissions by 2050 at the latest”.
Climate denialism
While climate change has emerged as a prominent political agenda, the rise of the big-business supporting far-right parties in national politics has led to a downward spiral towards a denial-centric and skeptic-centric conservative approach to climate change. Climate skepticism works on spreading mis-information by arguing that climate change is not a threat and indiscriminate expansion of heavy industries would lead to greater employment and development. No doubt such line of argument that portrays sustainable development as an enemy of economic growth will prove to be a death knell for the planet. The conservatives in Australia successfully pitted economic growth against climate measures making cost the dominant issue. One study using an economic model which was highlighted by the conservatives showed that the economic cost of 45 percent reduction in carbon emissions as proposed by Labour Party would amount to 167,000 jobs and 264 billion Australian dollars. The United States under the leadership of President Donald Trump boosted by powerful industry lobbies is also making an alarming shift towards climate denial with Trump making ludicrous claims such as climate change being a Chinese made phenomenon. Moreover, Trump’s future policy plans of rolling back domestic climate-related funding and withdrawal from the Paris Agreement threaten to have widespread implications for international climate change regime.
All is not lost
But all is not lost. Opposition party leaders are constantly building pressure on the governments to take measures to counter climate change. In the US, the Green New Deal, the brainchild of Democratic Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez to spur massive mobilization for climate action is an example of that.
What does the future hold?
While the rampant global rise of business minded and climate sceptic right-wing parties, especially in the Global North, is not conducive for climate change advocates, yet the increasing influence of opposition parties and individual politicians builds a degree of hope. Simultaneously, the common citizens, particularly the youth across the world are waking up to the reality of climate emergency and joining movements to lobby for immediate need for climate action for saving the planet. In October 2018, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) once again warned of the dire consequences of continued global warming, indicating that the world has just 12 years left to tackle the damage caused by climate change. Climate change is but a harsh reality facing the world and its time that incumbent and opposition parties indulge in urgent sustained action to save the earth from a destructive future.