AUG 30 — Bring on the electric vehicles, plug in your solar panels, and buy some carbon offsets. Such mainstream thinking on climate change is most reflective of the perspective of the elite and corporations of the Global North. Developing countries of the Global South mistaking these solutions for their principal climate action may find themselves unprepared to face climate vulnerabilities.
There is a third dimension of climate action that goes beyond physical causes and effects. Climate justice tackles the ethical and political distribution of responsibility for the climate crisis. Not all countries are equally responsible for causing climate change. But people who are genuinely concerned about the climate crisis sometimes assume Malaysia shoulders an equal burden to developed countries.
Under the United Nations’ treaties, a country’s responsibility and ability to address climate change is proportional to its emissions, technological and financial capability. Rapid big cuts by big emitters will stabilise the global climate more then big cuts by small emitters. Because the climate changes we are experiencing are primarily driven by global factors we need to cut emissions on a global scale in order to save Malaysia at the local level.
Shifting our electricity fuel mix rapidly away from coal towards renewables is environmentally desirable, but how do we ensure rising costs of electricity production don’t punish the vast majority of households who are struggling with low wages, inflation, and pandemic recovery? We need diplomatic pressure on the biggest global polluters to undertake deep cuts that will save all of us. Malaysia can’t exert enough diplomatic pressure on its own, so we need to work en bloc with a critical mass of developing countries. This is a role from which Malaysia has exercised leadership in the past.