The Politics of Climate

Climate change is expensive, and combating it is a process. If renewable energy was as widely available and efficient as fossil fuels, everyone would use them. Unfortunately, it isn’t, and large corporations (100 of which, according to the Climate Accountability Institute, are responsible for over 70% of carbon emissions) are more than hesitant to transition from fossil fuels to renewable energy. If regulations are not passed and enforced to limit carbon emissions on a corporate level, the efforts of the individual are futile.
Therefore, it’s up to the world’s governments to keep the world from burning up.
However, the government’s only able to do what its voters tell it to. 65% percent of American adults believe that the federal government is doing too little to combat the effects of climate change, according to a study conducted by Pew Research. 63% say that global climate change is in at least some way affecting their local community. Over 70% agree with taxing corporations based on carbon emissions, 80% are for tougher restrictions on power plant carbon emissions, and 90% favor planting one trillion trees to absorb carbon emissions.

Yet while the issue of climate change remains a growing concern on a national level, it can fall behind when compared to other policy decisions in the political scene.

“Often people, when asked, will say that climate change is really important to them,” explained Dr. William Gochberg, a postdoctoral research associate in the political science department at Washington University. “But then when you ask them to rank it alongside other issues, sometimes it’s seven, eight, or ten items down the list. It’s tricky to figure out exactly how willing the general public is to see action taken on the part of lawmakers.”
Climate change lacks the immediate sense of danger provided by war, disease or poverty. Aside from those who experience climate change-related natural disasters; its gradual effects are only visible when viewed over longer periods of time, often minimizing its sense of urgency.
In addition, the matter has become increasingly partisan since it entered the realm of politics and activism in the mid 1900s. According to Pew Research, 79% of liberal democrats consider that the Earth is warming mostly due to human activity, compared to 63% of moderate democrats, 34% of moderate republicans, and 15% of conservative republicans as of the election in 2016.

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Much dispute about climate change is due to the multi-million dollar plans from companies such as ExxonMobil, Chevron, and the American Petroleum Institute to create an “uncertainty” around climate change and provide alternative views and science.
Environmental policy also suffers due to its widespread impact compared to its concentrated burden.
“If you think about clean energy, it’s what’s called a public good in political science and economics, where everyone would benefit– having cleaner air,” explained Dr. Gochberg. “But, certain industries would really lose out from that kind of policy. So, they being a smaller group that would face certain losses have a lot of incentive to organize against that kind of policy.”
In the 2020 election, the environment was a heated topic of debate to which the candidates held polarizing beliefs. The Biden campaign put great emphasis on the environment and climate reform, contrary to Trump’s laissez-faire approach to the fossil fuel industry and climate change.
Over the past four years, the Trump administration has pulled out of the Paris Climate Agreement, loosened regulations on air pollution, and greenlit seismic airgun blasts for oil and gas drilling– moves which have favored the US economy over potentially harmful environmental repercussions.
Biden ran a contrary campaign in 2020: he pledged to rejoin the Paris Climate Agreement on his first day in office and laid out a plan to reach net zero carbon emissions by 2050. He put emphasis on limiting the fossil fuel industry, expanding into renewable energy sources, putting money into public transportation, and upgrading old buildings to be more energy-efficient.

With Biden’s victory in November, the future of climate policy looks vastly different than it has been under the Trump administration. The president-elect has already chosen to appoint former Obama administration secretary of state John Kerry as his special presidential envoy for climate, marking the first official dedicated to climate change on the National Security Council.

Kerry, who spoke on November 24 at an event in Wilmington, Delaware, explained that “no country alone can solve this challenge. Even the United States, for all of our industrial strength, is responsible for only 13% of global emissions. To end this crisis, the whole world must come together.”
Kerry’s remarks tie in one of the largest barriers to combating climate change: it’s a global issue. The fight against global warming requires action from every nation and cooperation on issues regarding energy and pollution.
In addition, it becomes difficult to determine how much “blame” each country should receive and how much action each country needs to take based on their current and past emissions.
It would be unfair to hold a developing country beginning to industrialize to the same level of responsibility as a wealthy, industrialized country such as the United States. Doing so would severely disadvantage their economic growth when compared to the lack of restriction the same wealthy nations felt as they industrialized and grew economically.
“There is the issue of historical emissions, which have by far come from the richer, industrialized nations,” explained Dr. Gochberg. “It’s hard to pressure Nigeria or Bangladesh, etc., to reduce emissions without offering some path towards economic development that other countries have pursued while emitting lots of greenhouse gases.”
Accordingly, it is important that the United States assumes its position as a leader, helping combat climate change on a global scale alongside a domestic effort to reach carbon neutrality. Providing aid to developing countries is necessary, spreading renewable and climate-friendly practices.
The politics of climate change are expensive, both domestic and international, and heavily debated. Unfortunately, the Climate can’t wait for the world’s leaders to come around to carbon neutrality and renewable energy— time is of the essence, and on a local, national, and global level, it is important that the United States leads in the fight against global warming.