Climate justice

An editorial in the Inquirer.net (Philippines): It is a useful concept, and to Kofi Annan, the former secretary-general of the United Nations, must go the credit for popularizing it. Sen. Loren Legarda also deserves approbation, for bringing the issue, in this new, evocative phrasing, to the Philippines’ attention. But while “climate justice” may have its uses, it also has its limitations.

Annan’s Global Alliance for Climate Justice is essentially a worldwide pressure group based on the “polluter pays” principle; in this case, the polluters are the large industrialized countries, who account historically for an overwhelming share of greenhouse gas emissions—according to scientific consensus, the primary engine of global warming. Climate justice seeks to hold the developed economies to account, and to play a proportionate role in the global effort to lower greenhouse gas emissions.

The perspective of the developing economies is summed up in Legarda’s statement: “It is a clear injustice that these groups [the poorest in the world] suffer the brunt of the impacts of climate change without any responsibility for having caused it.”

Perhaps “any” is too broad; it is difficult to pinpoint any sizable group of people in the world who do not leave a “carbon footprint.” But the larger point is surely accurate: The poorest people, who do not use air-conditioners or travel by jet, are the ones left most vulnerable to the adverse impact of climate change….