{"id":5760,"date":"2021-09-28T20:35:01","date_gmt":"2021-09-28T20:35:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/euromenaenergy.com\/?p=5760"},"modified":"2021-09-28T20:35:01","modified_gmt":"2021-09-28T20:35:01","slug":"how-to-avert-a-global-climate-catastrophe","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/emimer.com\/?p=5760","title":{"rendered":"How to Avert a Global Climate Catastrophe"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"article__byline\"><time class=\"vl-divider\" datetime=\"2021-09-23T13:05Z\">Sep 23, 2021<\/time><span class=\"byline\"><a class=\"track-event\" href=\"https:\/\/www.project-syndicate.org\/columnist\/omar-razzaz-1\" data-entity-type=\"member\" data-entity-id=\"614c78606a0c7ae0c30acb4e\" data-language=\"english\" data-event-action=\"click\" data-entity-link-name=\"omar-razzaz-1\" data-href-original=\"\/columnist\/omar-razzaz-1\"><span class=\"listing__author author\">OMAR RAZZAZ<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"article__abs u-mt-se\" dir=\"ltr\">\n<p>Current global efforts to raise awareness and nudge and shame policymakers are necessary but not sufficient to prevent an existential climate crisis. Addressing the problem more effectively requires international governance arrangements that amount to a new social contract on global public goods.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"article__body article__body--commentary  english\" dir=\"ltr\" data-page-area=\"article-body\">\n<p data-line-id=\"6f4e1c1f383f4c8ea7aff0888d9e84ec\">AMMAN \u2013 The hottest day on record in Jordan since 1960 was a staggering 49.3\u00b0 Celsius, (120.7\u00b0 Fahrenheit) in July 2018, one month after I became prime minister. Jordan is not unique: heat waves have been causing record-high temperatures in countries from Canada to Australia in recent years. The effects of climate change (including increased frequency and severity of floods, hurricanes, and droughts), while felt locally, demand a global response, which should set binding targets that take into account countries\u2019 contributions to the problem and to the solution.<\/p>\n<p data-line-id=\"9b0aec3fe19740228384c342fef43a9d\">Jordan has been actively pursuing policies and programs to reduce carbon-dioxide emissions. Over the past 15 years, Jordan\u2019s annual emissions per capita\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.globalcarbonatlas.org\/en\/CO2-emissions\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">fell from 3.5 tons to 2.5 tons<\/a>. But Jordan, like the vast majority of countries, accounts for a negligible share of global CO<sub>2<\/sub>\u00a0emissions \u00a0\u2013 just\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/ourworldindata.org\/co2\/country\/jordan#what-share-of-global-cumulative-co2-has-the-country-emitted\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">0.04%<\/a>\u00a0annually. So even if Jordan was to turn its whole economy green overnight, it would hardly make a dent. This does not absolve us of responsibility, but we cannot overlook the fact that emissions are concentrated: the top 20 emitters account for almost\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.un.org\/en\/actnow\/facts-and-figures\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">80%<\/a>\u00a0of the annual total, with the\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/ourworldindata.org\/co2\/country\/china#what-share-of-global-cumulative-co2-has-the-country-emitted\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">United States<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/ourworldindata.org\/co2\/country\/china#what-share-of-global-cumulative-co2-has-the-country-emitted\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">China<\/a>\u00a0alone accounting for 38%.<button class=\"comment__caller comment__caller--no-comment\" aria-expanded=\"false\" aria-label=\"Paragraph comment\" aria-controls=\"login_register\" aria-haspopup=\"true\"><\/button><\/p>\n<p data-line-id=\"03cc6f296e684c2fbb412eff7b5533cc\">In many countries, the ramifications of climate change for water supply have been staggering. In the case of Jordan, it made an already tight constraint much more acute. Rainfall was previously the savior for rural communities that engaged in seasonal rainfed agriculture and herding on semi-arid land. Over the last decade, however, a steady decline in average annual rainfall and an increase in the frequency and severity of droughts have undermined these modes of agriculture, deepening the socioeconomic divide between rural and urban areas.<button class=\"comment__caller comment__caller--no-comment\" aria-expanded=\"false\" aria-label=\"Paragraph comment\" aria-controls=\"login_register\" aria-haspopup=\"true\"><\/button><\/p>\n<p data-line-id=\"ed8ad8526ed44c3082ef578bde239cb2\">Jordan is by no means unique: the World Health Organization\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.who.int\/news-room\/fact-sheets\/detail\/drinking-water\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">estimates<\/a>\u00a0that half of the world\u2019s population will be living in water-stressed areas by 2025. In essence, what was previously a regional challenge has now become a serious global governance issue with environmental, political, and economic ramifications.<button class=\"comment__caller comment__caller--no-comment\" aria-expanded=\"false\" aria-label=\"Paragraph comment\" aria-controls=\"login_register\" aria-haspopup=\"true\"><\/button><\/p>\n<p data-line-id=\"c54c1b0be9dc4695bdcc55ae1875b650\">More broadly, other manifestations of climate change, and the lack of an internationally coordinated response to them \u2013 not to mention to additional threats such as the COVID-19 pandemic \u2013 suggest that something is seriously wrong at the global level. According to the recent\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.ipcc.ch\/report\/ar6\/wg1\/downloads\/report\/IPCC_AR6_WGI_SPM.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">sober assessment<\/a>\u00a0by the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the world will not meet the 2015\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/unfccc.int\/process-and-meetings\/the-paris-agreement\/the-paris-agreement\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Paris climate agreement<\/a>\u00a0goal of limiting global warming to well below 2\u00b0C unless it makes huge additional cuts in CO<sub>2\u00a0<\/sub>emissions.<button class=\"comment__caller comment__caller--no-comment\" aria-expanded=\"false\" aria-label=\"Paragraph comment\" aria-controls=\"login_register\" aria-haspopup=\"true\"><\/button><\/p>\n<p data-line-id=\"2e209a538b8b49cfa2a9454e6f350327\">Quite simply, the results of the world\u2019s climate efforts are dangerously inadequate. According to the Climate Action Tracker, current policies put the world on course to be an alarming\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/climateactiontracker.org\/press\/global-update-projected-warming-from-paris-pledges-drops-to-two-point-four-degrees\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">2.7-3.1\u00b0C warmer<\/a>\u00a0by 2100, relative to pre-industrial levels. Yes, many emerging green technologies are promising and should be supported. But in the absence of a global approach, these innovations risk merely redistributing the impact of climate change among countries and regions.<\/p>\n<p data-line-id=\"11ce5311139e4d8a976cf5a9d034c889\">Raising awareness and nudging (and shaming) policymakers is necessary, but not sufficient to avert what UN Secretary-General\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.project-syndicate.org\/columnist\/antonio-guterres\">Ant\u00f3nio Guterres<\/a>\u00a0has referred to as a \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/antonioguterres\/status\/1424649118312435714?lang=en\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">climate catastrophe<\/a>.\u201d Climate-change mitigation must be pursued as a global public good. The problem is that such goods are plagued by collective-action problems, because the costs tend to be spatially and temporally concentrated while the benefits are diffuse. These difficulties can be tackled only by global governance structures that reduce the cost of collective action, internalize externalities, and counter short-term biases in decision-making.<button class=\"comment__caller comment__caller--no-comment\" aria-expanded=\"false\" aria-label=\"Paragraph comment\" aria-controls=\"login_register\" aria-haspopup=\"true\"><\/button><\/p>\n<p data-line-id=\"0b9e7d1a7c27409da3c7df381b43bb8d\">To address climate change more effectively, we need global governance arrangements that amount to a new global social contract. Existing international governance structures can serve as a foundation for these new institutions, but will need to be amended and supplemented to address specific problems related to public goods and collective action.<button class=\"comment__caller comment__caller--no-comment\" aria-expanded=\"false\" aria-label=\"Paragraph comment\" aria-controls=\"login_register\" aria-haspopup=\"true\"><\/button><\/p>\n<p data-line-id=\"d4f70268985a40fd85195c0de2c812fb\">For starters, we need a governance structure whose jurisdiction is limited to global public goods that cannot be provided adequately at the national level. Nation-states would be free to opt in and opt out, with the benefits of opting in outweighing those of opting out. Decisions would be taken on a majoritarian basis, with no single country having veto power. There would also be an appeals and adjudication process that allows decisions to be challenged.<button class=\"comment__caller comment__caller--no-comment\" aria-expanded=\"false\" aria-label=\"Paragraph comment\" aria-controls=\"login_register\" aria-haspopup=\"true\"><\/button><\/p>\n<p data-line-id=\"fa9ad228bda94124a1de618d27d0d942\">Second, a custodial entity would keep track of global natural wealth accounts to address intergenerational equity issues. This entity should be able to place items on the global governance institution\u2019s agenda and to appeal decisions.<button class=\"comment__caller comment__caller--no-comment\" aria-expanded=\"false\" aria-label=\"Paragraph comment\" aria-controls=\"login_register\" aria-haspopup=\"true\"><\/button><\/p>\n<p data-line-id=\"b241f842938a4c1a97c67b2925ae0914\">Lastly, a regime of incentives and disincentives would aim to preserve nature and biodiversity and tax those who consume it, taking wealth and income disparities across countries into account.<button class=\"comment__caller comment__caller--no-comment\" aria-expanded=\"false\" aria-label=\"Paragraph comment\" aria-controls=\"login_register\" aria-haspopup=\"true\"><\/button><\/p>\n<p data-line-id=\"9b6636813fb8453395255469a69dafcd\">Establishing global governance mechanisms that focus on the public-goods and collective-action challenges of climate change will not be easy. Concerns and fears related to a \u201cdemocratic deficit\u201d and the need to protect national sovereignty are legitimate, and cannot simply be brushed aside.<\/p>\n<p data-line-id=\"9f4ea27ef671497eb6f6753ddff87116\">Nevertheless, we are not starting from scratch. The World Trade Organization provides an example of a strong and successful global governance structure with binding rules. It is thus both ironic and sad that the WTO has failed to incorporate trade-related environmental and human-rights issues into its regulations in order to ensure a level international playing field. After all, with its sanctioning authority, the WTO is best positioned to link issues such as greenhouse-gas emissions and labor rights to trade rules.<button class=\"comment__caller comment__caller--no-comment\" aria-expanded=\"false\" aria-label=\"Paragraph comment\" aria-controls=\"login_register\" aria-haspopup=\"true\"><\/button><\/p>\n<p data-line-id=\"cc3bf8970ed346fb8c3e8a1e61eceadc\">Jordan cannot successfully tackle today\u2019s global climate challenges on its own. Nor can the Middle East, owing to regional conflicts and rivalries. Now that the world has become a village, the task facing the region is instead to agree with other countries \u2013 our fellow villagers \u2013 on how to mitigate our own excesses and avert an existential threat. This can be achieved only by finding suitable ways to hold ourselves and each other accountable. The solution lies in establishing a global governance system that is based on the nation-state but has the capacity to sanction harmful behavior.<button class=\"comment__caller comment__caller--no-comment\" aria-expanded=\"false\" aria-label=\"Paragraph comment\" aria-controls=\"login_register\" aria-haspopup=\"true\"><\/button><\/p>\n<p data-line-id=\"b51d55be07c74f2ea2e3f2bd13827f5f\">Some might regard the idea of creating such a structure as far-fetched. But unless we do, there is scant hope of preventing the climate crisis \u2013 already apparent in Jordan and around the world \u2013 from continuing to destroy countless lives and livelihoods.<\/p>\n<div class=\"nmd-item\"><a class=\"track-event avatar-wrapper u-noprint\" title=\"Profile of Omar Razzaz\" href=\"https:\/\/www.project-syndicate.org\/columnist\/omar-razzaz-1\" data-entity-type=\"member\" data-entity-id=\"614c78606a0c7ae0c30acb4e\" data-language=\"english\" data-event-action=\"click\" data-entity-link-name=\"omar-razzaz-1\" data-href-original=\"\/columnist\/omar-razzaz-1\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"avatar lazyloaded\" src=\"https:\/\/webapi.project-syndicate.org\/library\/59a7196d046c286d392d97fe50e1d4ed.square-small.1.jpg\" alt=\"Omar Razzaz\" data-src=\"https:\/\/webapi.project-syndicate.org\/library\/59a7196d046c286d392d97fe50e1d4ed.square-small.1.jpg\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<div class=\"name-wrapper\">\n<h2 class=\"nmd-item__name\"><a class=\"track-event\" title=\"Profile of Omar Razzaz\" href=\"https:\/\/www.project-syndicate.org\/columnist\/omar-razzaz-1\" data-entity-type=\"member\" data-entity-id=\"614c78606a0c7ae0c30acb4e\" data-language=\"english\" data-event-action=\"click\" data-entity-link-name=\"omar-razzaz-1\" data-href-original=\"\/columnist\/omar-razzaz-1\">OMAR RAZZAZ<\/a><\/h2>\n<div class=\"meta meta--block\">\n<p class=\"u-noprint\">Writing for PS since<strong>\u00a02021<\/strong><br \/>\n<strong>1<\/strong>\u00a0Commentary<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"readmore u-mt-se u-text\">\n<p>Omar Razzaz is a former prime minister of Jordan.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Sep 23, 2021OMAR RAZZAZ Current global efforts to raise awareness and nudge and shame policymakers are necessary but not sufficient to prevent an existential climate crisis. Addressing the problem more effectively requires&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5761,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[46,48,57,68,76,77,82,86,87,90,96,99,103,107,109,111,113,137,139,146,148,160,174,183,184,201,202,209,222,230,232,233,244,246,249,256,262,263,267,277,279,280,285,288],"class_list":["post-5760","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-climate","tag-aramco","tag-athens","tag-baroudi","tag-carbon","tag-climate","tag-climate-change","tag-co2","tag-cyprus","tag-decarbonising","tag-democracy","tag-doha","tag-eastmed","tag-egypt","tag-embargo","tag-emissions","tag-energy","tag-energy-peace","tag-gas","tag-gazprom","tag-greece","tag-greenenergy","tag-international-maritime-disputes","tag-lebanon","tag-maritime-boundaries-east-mediterranean","tag-maritime-disputes","tag-offshore","tag-oil","tag-opec","tag-pollution","tag-poverty-alleviation","tag-putin","tag-qatar","tag-rosneft","tag-roudi","tag-russia","tag-saudi","tag-solar","tag-solar-power","tag-straddling-hydrocarbons-reserves","tag-total","tag-trump","tag-turkey","tag-unclos","tag-usa"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/emimer.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5760","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/emimer.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/emimer.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/emimer.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/emimer.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5760"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/emimer.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5760\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/emimer.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/5761"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/emimer.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5760"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/emimer.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5760"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/emimer.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5760"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}