sustainable energy and climate
justice
Climate change, the biggest
environmental threat to the planet, is
already upon us. Vulnerable communities in
some parts of the world are feeling its
devastating impacts, through increased
desertification, decreased food production,
rising sea levels, heat waves and water
insecurity.
It is the poorest people in the poorest
regions who are suffering the burden of
climate change, although these people have
done the least to contribute to the
problem. The Intergovernmental Panel on
Climate Change noted that: “Small island
states account for less than 1 percent of
global greenhouse gas emissions, but are
among the most vulnerable of all locations
to the potential adverse effects of climate
change and sea level rise.” The current and
historical greenhouse gas emissions of
industrialized countries have far exceeded
their per capita share. G8 countries, with
13 percent of the world’s population,
account for 45 percent of global emissions
– 65 percent if historical emissions are
taken into account.
The rich, industrialized countries have
an obligation to take a lead in cutting
their greenhouse gas emissions furthest and
fastest and to help poor countries adapt to
the unavoidable negative impacts of climate
change through new funds and resources. The
greater integration of climate impacts into
development programmes and models is
required. Although gender equity receives
little attention on the climate issue,
women tend to suffer most from climate
change as they have less access than men to
formal information and infrastructure. It
is essential that women, who greatly rely
on the land and have extensive knowledge of
local agriculture, are involved in the
design and implementation of adaptation
programs.
Some small island states face complete
annihilation: some 7 million inhabitants of
the 22 Pacific Island states are seriously
threatened by sea level rise. As more and
more people find their homelands
uninhabitable in the coming decades, the
world is on the verge of being flooded with
millions of ‘environmental refugees’. Where
will these displaced people go? There is
currently no legal recognition or status
for environmental or climate refugees, and
their numbers in the coming years could be
daunting. One of the major authorities on
the topic, Norman Myers of Oxford
University, says there could well be 150
million climate refugees on the move within
50 years, including at least 75 million in
the Asia-Pacific region. So far, only New
Zealand has publicly agreed to relocate
climate refugees from Tuvalu over the
coming decades.
Greater efforts can be made to
facilitate grassroots, community based
approaches to reducing harm from extreme
weather events. There are many practical
examples – including seed banks, water
management, disaster relief, storm and
flood protection, and conservation of
forests and other ecosystems–which
represent effective ways for threatened
communities to protect themselves against
poverty, hunger and climate change.
Many regions have enormous potential for
renewable energy, which, if promoted by
governments and actively supported by
community groups, can also help to tackle
poverty as well as reduce climate change.
Access to electricity for the 2 billion
people around the world currently in the
dark could help to fulfil some of the most
basic and necessary human needs, such as
food storage, cooking, heating and
lighting. The challenge is to create access
to clean, affordable energy sources so that
these regions can avoid the dirty energy
path that so many others have followed, and
at the same time meet real energy
needs.
All of this will require political
commitment and new financing from
governments in all countries, and a major
shift in priorities by the World Bank and
other development bodies. International
financial institutions and export credit
agencies must adopt policies that widen the
availability of sustainable energy
measures. In 2003, fossil fuel projects
represented 86 percent of the World Bank’s
spending on energy, as compared to 14
percent for renewables funding.
To meet escalating demand, according to
the International Energy Agency, some US$16
trillion of investments is expected in
energy supply and distribution systems over
the next 30 years. The challenge is to
ensure that this money is invested into
cleaner, more sustainable energies;
otherwise we will be locked into a high
emissions trajectory for many years to
come, destabilizing our climate to
catastrophic levels.
Friends of the Earth groups and the
communities we work with are implementing
sustainable energy projects in many
countries. In Malaysia, the Long Lawen
community in Sarawak has become the first
inland Malaysian settlement to meet all of
its electrification needs through
sustainable energy (see
page 44
). In El Salvador,
Friends of the Earth has created jobs and
reduced pollution by training people to
build bicycles (see
page 43
). In Argentina,
the local Friends of the Earth group in
Santa Fe has constructed a ‘bio-digestor’
in their office, which is now sustainably
powered through a mixture of domestic
garbage, leaves and sorghum (see
page 42
).
