Discourses on Sustainability

Climate Change, Clean Energy, and Justice

Elena V. Shabliy, Dmitry Kurochkin, Martha J. Crawford, Elena V. Shabliy, Dmitry Kurochkin, Martha J. Crawford

• Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan
• Year: 2020
• Print ISBN:
  9783030531201
• eBook ISBN:
  9783030531218
• Topic: Politics & International Relations
• Subtopic: Environment & Energy Policy
• Index: Politics & International Relations

This volume presents an in-depth analysis of climate change problems and discusses the proliferation of renewable energy worldwide—in conjunction with such important questions as social justice and economic growth, providing an interdisciplinary approach to sustainable development. Exploring various responses to human-induced climate change, the book offers a critical reflection on climate change and clean energy and highlights the fundamental problems of international energy justice and human rights. Examining these and other climate-related issues from legal, business, political, and scientific perspectives, the volume also analyzes the impact of economic factors and policies on climate change mitigation and adaptation. 

© The Author(s) 2020

E. V. Shabliy et al. (eds.)Discourses on Sustainabilityhttps://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-53121-8_1

Begin Abstract

1. Introduction: Climate Ethics and International Energy Justice

Dmitry Kurochkin¹ and Elena V. Shabliy¹

(1)

Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, USA

Dmitry Kurochkin (Corresponding author)

Email: [email protected]

Elena V. Shabliy

Email: [email protected]

End Abstract

In the recent past, multiple discourses on sustainability appeared, shedding light on urgent problems of human-caused climate change and clean energy advancements. The concepts of sustainability and sustainable development have become popular among local communities, international policymakers, and researchers. In addition to these important topics, such themes as climate justice, environmental justice, global energy justice, ecological justice, sustainable justice, and procedural justice remain attractive to scholars and researchers internationally (Joroff 2017; Sovacool and Dworkin 2014; Walker 2011). Sustainable development has become an influential discourse worldwide. In this edited volume, scholars elaborate on various responses to human-induced climate change, calling for action, and encouraging further thorough analysis and research. Human activities have been the dominant cause of climate warming.¹ At the national and local levels, there are various reactions to these problems, such as, for example, the National Climate Assessment (NCA), the Voluntary National Reviews (Chapter 6), the Mandatory Renewable Energy Target, the Large-scale Renewable Energy Target (Chapter 5).² At the macro-level, the recognition of these existing problems was supported by the United Nations, the UN Earth Summit, the Rio+20 Summit, the Kyoto Protocol, the Paris Agreement, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the Bali Principles of Climate Justice, etc.³ Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) are at the core of the Paris Agreement and the achievement of numerous goals.⁴ NDCs represent those efforts by each country and region to cut national emissions and adapt to climate change.⁵ The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development was introduced in 2015; it has 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and 169 associated targets.⁶ The world is working toward all these Goals, including Goal 7 (Affordable and Clean Energy), Goal 6 (Clean Water and Sanitation), Goal 13 (Climate Action), Goal 16 (Peace, Justice, and Strong Institutions), and Goal 17 (Partnership for the Goals), which are considered in this edited volume.

This interdisciplinary book presents a critical reflection on climate change (Chapters 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, and 7) and clean energy (Chapters 5, 6, 8, and 9), which inevitably draw on fundamental philosophical inquiries of social justice and human rights problems. Climate change is expected to negatively impact ecosystems in the future; “a public action approach to policy provides a better lens than the conventional rationalist approach to analyse the contested nature of climate science and the potential of lived experience to inform debates through active engagement.”⁷ Diverse knowledge of and approaches to climate change help understand this growing problem. Global average air temperature has increased in the recent past by approximately 1.0 °C (1.8 °F); according to the Climate Science Special Report, the last several years have been record-breaking, and the period of 1901–2016 is the warmest.⁸ Greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions are still rising, with damaging effects on the Earth’s climate.⁹ At the moment, the concentration of CO₂ is higher than at any point in time—at least the past 800,000 years.¹⁰ However, carbon dioxide (CO₂) is not the only GHG that impacts human-induced climate change: “Concentrations of methane (CH₄) and nitrous oxide (N₂O), even more potent greenhouse agents that CO_2, are also at record high level and likely to increase in the future.”¹¹

Abbott and Wilson distinguish between lived experiential and local/indigenous knowledge and the role of knowledge in policy-making on climate-related problems (Abbott and Wilson 2014). Lived experience is a process of evolution, often over many years of generations.¹² Abbott and Wilson argue that there are countless unique lived experiences when it comes to climate change problems.¹³ Moreover, lived experience is characterized by its diversity, and with diversity sometimes comes disagreement, then dialogue, and possible solution.¹⁴ The role of public participation and the development...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Front Matter
• 1. Introduction: Climate Ethics and International Energy Justice
• 2. Public Participation and Intra-Actions in the Swedish Energy Transition
• 3. Failure to Act or Impossible Task? The Pursuit of Climate Justice and Energy Security Through Litigation
• 4. Perceptions and Awareness of Climate Change on Environmental Stewardship
• 5. Short-Sighted Visual Character Concerns in Renewable Energy Landscapes: A Case Study of South Australia
• 6. Turkey and Sustainable Development Goals: A Nexus Approach to Clean Energy and Climate Action
• 7. To Grow or Not to Grow: Evolution of the Economic Paradigm as a Response to Climate Disruption
• 8. Sustainable Energy Policies and Programs in Yakutia
• 9. Diaspora and Renewable Energy in Manubhai Autobiography Tide of Fortune
• Back Matter