COP28 opens in Dubai later in the week and debates about how to address the climate crisis are in the news. But in the air-conditioned halls of the conference centre there will be little talk of class struggle. Technical solutions dominate – offset markets, carbon capture and alternative energy technologies will be the focus of multiple panels and workshops. Hosted by a petrostate whose economy and politics is intimately linked to destructive fossil fuels, discussions about addressing the underlying causes of climate change in fossil fuel-dependent capitalism will likely be far from the agenda.
Yet, climate change is unquestionably an issue of class, power and privilege. As a recent Oxfam report has vividly shown, it is the ‘polluting elite’ that causes by far the most damage. Only 1% of the world’s population cause as many emissions as the poorest 66% of people on the planet. Climate in equalities are stark. Therefore, a focus on who causes the damage and why surely must be the focus of any climate debate.
This article is from Zimbabweland, a blog written by IDS Research Fellow Ian Scoones. Zimbabweland focuses on issues related to rural livelihoods and land reform in Zimbabwe.