The Possibility of Reflexive Global Climate Politics

For more than two decades, the global climate change regime has been failing to produce outcomes that will genuinely confront the threat of climate change. Recent years have seen greater political will to forge a successful agreement at the 2015 Paris summit. Optimism has been particularly high sinc...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Revue de métaphysique et de morale (Paris, France : 1945) France : 1945), 2016-01 (1), p.55-69
Main Author: Stevenson, Hayley
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Climate change
Climate change policy
Ecological economics
Ecological sustainability
Emissions reduction
Environmental politics
Environmentalism
Human ecology
International agreements
Rationality
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Summary:For more than two decades, the global climate change regime has been failing to produce outcomes that will genuinely confront the threat of climate change. Recent years have seen greater political will to forge a successful agreement at the 2015 Paris summit. Optimism has been particularly high since China and the US reached a bilateral deal in 2014. But it remains uncertain whether a Paris agreement will be sufficiently ambitious to avoid the worst effects of climate change. Past experience in global climate governance cautions against assuming that any agreement is a step forward. Drawing on green political theory, this paper approaches climate change as part of a wider condition of unsustainability. It defines a standard of ecological rationality for measuring the adequacy of climate agreements, and outlines the importance of strong ecological reflexivity for overcoming the weaknesses in existing global climate change governance. Depuis plus de vingt ans, le régime politique propre à gérer le changement climatique global a échoué devant la crainte qu'il suscite. On a vu apparaître ces dernières années une plus grande volonté politique pour arriver à un accord au Sommet de Pans en 2015. L'optimisme est devenu particulièrement fort depuis que la Chine et les États-Unis ont conclu un accord bilatéral en 2014. La gouvernance globale du climat dans le passé rend prudent: chaque accord n'est pas forcément un pas en avant. Inspiré de la théorie politique environnementale, cet article aborde le changement climatique au sein de la question plus large du développement qui n'est pas durable. Ce texte définit les critères d'une rationalité écologique à même de mesurer l'adéquation des accords sur le climat. Il souligne l'importance d'une réflexivité écologique forte pour pouvoir dépasser les faiblesses de la gouvernance actuelle du changement du climat global.
ISSN:0035-1571
2102-5177
DOI:10.3917/rmm.161.0055