Just transition requires political, economic and behavioural change
- Wits University
Achieving access to minimum resources and services for all, while safeguarding our planet, requires redistribution and societal transformation.
There is an urgent need for new political, economic, behavioural and technological systems that protect people and the planet, in order to implement the fundamental transformative changes that address poverty and inequality, while reducing environmental impacts.
This is the view of Professor Laura Pereira of the Global Change Institute at Wits University, Johannesburg, who was part of an international team of scientists from the Earth Commission that investigated the Earth system impacts of escaping poverty and achieving a dignified life for all. The study, published in the journal Nature Sustainability, that looked at what the additional pressures would be on the Earth system if adequate minimum access to food, water, energy and infrastructure was achieved.
“Based on discussions on what the potential trade-offs would be between achieving social and environmental goals, we looked at what it would cost to ensure universal access to basic needs for everybody,” says Pereira.
Analysing figures from 2018, the authors looked beyond the international poverty line and instead defined ‘just access’ as minimum per capita requirements that would allow people to lead a dignified life and escape poverty. Their analysis showed that providing universal access to basic resources would lead to an increase of pressures on the Earth’s natural systems, raising greenhouse gas emissions by 26% whilst raising water and land use, and nutrient pollution by 2-5%.
The authors concluded that redistributing resources and transforming society are key to ensuring universal access to basic needs while staying within Earth’s limits. These transformations include redistribution and improvements to water, food, infrastructure and energy provisioning systems.
“Broad societal transformations across sectors, especially addressing the impacts of elites, from energy, industry and transport; food and agriculture; and the built environment, including cities and infrastructure, coupled with effective redistributive mechanisms based on principles of equity are critical to achieve a safe and just future for all,” says Pereira.
This new research comes ahead of an associated Earth Commission report due out in early 2023 that will outline a range of ‘Earth System Boundaries’ (ESBs) to safeguard a stable and resilient planet and underpin the setting of science-based targets for businesses, cities and governments. The Earth Commission is the scientific cornerstone of the Global Commons Alliance.
The analysis also showed that these pressures, arising from the poorest third of humanity achieving adequate resource access, equaled the pressures caused by the wealthiest 1-4%. It provides scientific evidence for concluding that in order to achieve societal and environmental goals, it is the wealthy (who appropriate the bulk of Earth’s resources and ecosystems – not those escaping poverty) who need to undergo transformative change. The authors therefore link the ‘Great Acceleration’ of rapid increases in human-driven environmental impacts with a ‘Great Inequality’.
Lead author, Crelis Rammelt, Environmental Geography and Development Studies at the University of Amsterdam and Earth Commission expert says: “Our research is important because many people assume that meeting the needs of the poorest is possible without major redistributions and transformations in society. We show that in 2018 – so with 2018 levels of inequalities, technologies and behaviors – providing dignified lives for the poor would have led to further crossing of Earth system boundaries, especially for climate.”
Co-author Chukwumerije Okereke, Alex Ekwueme Federal University Nigeria and Earth Commission expert says: “Our research shows that the aching poverty and inequality suffered by people in the Global South can be addressed to provide a meaningful life for all, without transgressing key Earth system boundaries and thresholds”.
Okereke believes that rather than asking poor countries of the world to tighten their belts or make do without, as some in the North often tend to suggest, the emphasis should be on promoting ideals of global distributive justice and systematic transformations that will enhance wealth and opportunities for the poor.
Co-author Johan Rockström, Co-Chair of the Earth Commission and Director of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research says: “While it becomes clear that the poor are not causing the climate problem, it’s also clear that we need to solve climate, to solve inequity. Climate impacts are hitting harder on those who lack the resources to cope with them, both internationally and within countries. When it comes to taking action, those who have more means to reduce dangerous greenhouse gas emissions also have a greater responsibility to do so. Stabilising our climate is in their own interest, also because it means stabilising societies.”