This session explores the challenges of achieving climate justice amidst global political and economic shifts. The panelists discuss the interconnectedness of climate action, democracy, and economic systems, examining both the obstacles posed by powerful interests and the potential for movements to build alliances and effect change.
Neoliberalism and Fossil Fuel Interests: The panelists strongly link the persistence of neoliberal economic policies and the influence of the fossil fuel industry as major obstacles to climate justice. These forces actively fight against climate action through disinformation, lobbying, and control over policy decisions.
The Climate Justice Movement's Progress and Setbacks: While the climate justice movement has become more unified in its understanding of systemic issues and formed broader alliances with other social movements, it also faces setbacks from state repression and backsliding on climate action by governments worldwide. The COVID-19 pandemic and the war in Palestine highlighted global inequalities and the fragility of international cooperation.
Strategies for Climate Justice: Effective strategies include building counterpower, connecting emission reductions with immediate improvements to people's lives, focusing on just transitions, and utilizing escalation strategies to prioritize key demands. The importance of public ownership of energy resources and the need to engage with working-class constituencies were also highlighted. The panelists emphasize the need to continue engagement with COP, even while focusing efforts elsewhere.
The Intertwined Nature of Climate Action and Democracy: Climate action and the fight for democracy are deeply intertwined. Neoliberal policies often undermine democratic processes, and the fight for climate justice requires a commitment to democratic principles and participation.
The Importance of Building Alliances: The panelists highlight the significance of building strong alliances across movements, including those working on issues of economic justice, human rights, anti-militarism, and Palestinian solidarity, to address the interconnected nature of global challenges.
The transcript mentions the Atlas Network and its affiliated think tanks as examples of neoliberal organizations that have actively pushed economic ideas that hinder climate action. It notes their activity worldwide, including significant presence in Latin America, Europe, Asia, and increasingly in Africa. The transcript states that these think tanks have worked to create dependency on the products of a particular economic order and have pushed economic ideas, including economic education at basic levels, to maintain the existing system. The speaker links these think tanks to the fossil fuel industry, citing Charles Koch as an example.
The transcript lists six axes of convergence for the Brazilian people's summit towards COP30, but provides only partial detail on some. These are:
Tasneem Essop describes the "escalation strategy" as a tactic where the climate movement unites its collective power to focus on a single, prioritized fight until a result is achieved. In the example given, the movement focused on establishing a loss and damage fund. After 30 years of negotiations and significant mobilization, this strategy led to success, resulting in the establishment of the fund, despite initial resistance from wealthy nations. Another success mentioned, using this strategy, was gaining language in a COP decision for the first time ever regarding a fossil fuel phase-out.
Lavinia Steinfort cites UN climate finance figures showing that it takes $4 in public finance to attract just $1 in private sector investment in renewable energy. She uses this to demonstrate how current systems and neoliberal transition policies are skewed, with governments essentially subsidizing private sector profits rather than directly investing in public energy utilities to drive the transition. She also points to the observation that private sector investment in renewables dries up when public subsidies or high energy prices (as seen during energy crises) decrease.
