Abstract
The 2015 Paris Agreement was undoubtedly an important diplomatic achievement. Organizations and experts have rallied around it, all the more since the attack against the agreement by the current US administration. This rally has led to a collective unwillingness to acknowledge what the evidence already tells us: the Paris Agreement and the currently dominant, international approach to climate change policy will not work. Much faster and more decisive change is needed; a paradigm shift. We need a policy which provides for a realistic yet rapid transition from our dependence on cheap fossil fuels to deep decarbonization and a sustained reliance on renewable sources of energy. We argue in this paper that, thanks to advances in Information Technology (IT) and social media, viable options exist for an alternative global, transnational climate policy. Three key principles have to be followed: (i) gradual expansion across boundaries; (ii) use of economic incentives to compel behavioral change; and (iii) a close link between the price of carbon and the use of raised funds. The funds from the climate risk surcharge collected on fossil fuels at the source, a central piece of the proposal, are to be used for subsidizing adaption to and insurance against damage from climate change. The paper argues that the challenges in terms of information requirements and institutional resistance can be overcome if IT solutions are deployed within a public-private governance framework that protects the public interest.
Highlights
The 2015 Paris Agreement was undoubtedly an important diplomatic achievement
We argue in this paper that, thanks to advances in Information Technology (IT) and social media, viable options exist for an alternative global, transnational climate policy
The only realistic global approach was the process of discussions and negotiations between nation states, building on the Conference of Parties (COP) within the 1992 United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC)
Summary
“We’ll always have Paris,” is Humphrey Bogart’s assurance to Ingrid Bergman, the star-crossed lovers in the movie Casablanca [1]. The 2015 Paris Agreement, no doubt an important diplomatic achievement, is understood as confirmation that the only path ahead is to keep going; that a fundamental alternative to replace the current, international governance of global climate policy is not needed. Climate change is a global challenge that requires a global solution. The scope and complexity of the challenge requires a multitude of solutions, on different levels, and countless efforts are underway in private and public spheres, by organizations and individuals.. There is little debate that this overriding effort has to be global because climate change is global. Transnational means any approach that cuts across national boundaries, but is not primarily led by national governments (see, for example, [3]). Any effort that cuts across national boundaries but is not international is transnational
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