THE POLITICS OF CLIMATE CHANGEAnthony GiddensTEAM 6 - ENVIRONMENT PRESENTING: VLAD FLOREA, EUGEN POPESCU, IOANA IONESCU

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The track record so farA return to planning

Technologies and taxesConclusions

TABLE OF CONTENTS

In this chapter, Giddens studies how we have fared so far in treating the environment situation. He splits political regimes into two large categories and compares them, then he gives some positive and negative examples and then ends by stating the facts about how some treaties tackled the problem.

The track record so far

Regime ComparacyGiddens splits the regimes in Democratic and Totalitarian ones.Democratic Totalitarian

More keen on profitLeaned towards materialistic

goalsPositively encourage science

developmentMobilization of sicial

movements (NGOs)Best performers

Poor/Disastrous environmental records

High degree of control over society

It does stimulate technological advances but for military purposes

The Top – EPI rankTop 10 countries and score - 2008

• Switzerland 95.5• Norway 93.1• Sweden 93.1• Finland 91.4• Costa Rica 90.5• Austria 89.4• New Zealand 88.9• Latvia 88.8• Colombia 88.3• France 87.8

Top 10 countries and score - 2014

• Switzerland 87.67• Luxembourg 83.29• Australia 82.4• Singapore 81.78• Czech Republic 81.47• Germany 80.47• Spain 79.79• Austria 78.32• Sweden 78.09• Norway 78.04

The Top – EPI rankTop 10 countries by Trend EPI The EPI rank is shown in parentheses (ranking 132 countries) - 2012

• Latvia (2)• Azerbaijan (111)• Romania (88)• Albania (15)• Egypt (60)• Angola (90)• Slovakia (12)• Ireland (36)• Belgium (24)• Thailand (34)

Worst 10 countries by Trend EPI The EPI rank is shown in parentheses.

• Turkmenistan (131)• South Africa (128)• Iraq (132)• Kazakhstan (129)• Kyrgyzstan (101)• Estonia (54)• Bosnia & Herzegovina (124)• Saudi Arabia (82)• Kuwait (126)• Russia (106)

Sweden’s reasons for being at the top

• Oil efficiency after 1973 OPEC embargo.Then knew the economy better not be dependent on oil so they:• Invested in better insulation, block heating, nuclear energy, hydroelectric

power;• Reduced fossil fuel imports(1970’s 80% total energy supply – today 35%);• Greenhouse gases 9% lower in 2005 than 1990;• Adopted carbon tax;• Adopted 16 environment quality objectives• They want to become world’s first oil free country by 2020;• (Because) the economy grew by 44% in the meantime.

The treaties - Weaknesses

• Policies about what to do not how to do it;• Organized in negative scenarios that we have to avoid;• They have to find a way to back the law even if the government changes;• The government politicized the Acts;• Difficulties about implementing laws for nuclear energy;• The fuel taxes have lost all environment connotations. It is viewed as just another

tax;• Some parts of the acts cannot be reconciled with other parts of the government;• Little attempt to expand railway infrastructure or electrification;• Lack of stimulus;• Sanction the production of CO2;• The act does not take into consideration the insurance.

The treaties – The points made by top performers

• They have energy security policies not climate change policies;• Left-centered regimes drove best policies until now;• Carbon taxes do work;• Subsidize renewable tech;• Nuclear power has to have a part of the mix;• The climate change is not popular;• Difficult to maintain coherence;• Western countries have a decline in manufacture, China taking the weight.

Conclusions

• We still need immediate stimulus to take action;• Material incentives do work;• It will take time;• Due to the globalization phenomenon the pollution is relocated and we

have to take this into consideration.• The statistics and the improvements are important but understanding the

reasons behind them is the key.

A return to planning

The track record so far

Technologies and taxes

Technologies and taxes

Conclusions