Can climate change be solved by democracies?

Problem: Structural problems for democracies (Randers (2018):

Climate Change is one of the most pressing
issues of the 21st century and only little
progress has been made in combatting it.
Already in 2007, the Guardian asked whether politicians can
solve climate change and the responses from politicians,
researchers and philosophers showed that climate change is
an inherently political problem.
Since at least half of the world’s countries are democracies
(EIU 2019: 2), democracies are crucial to solving the issue.
Reasons for doubt:
• Election of Donald Trump as US
President: denial of climate change
science, anti-environmental agenda, plain
rejection of science and facts
• Gardel (2018) in Washington Post:
“Democracy may fatally slow climate
action”.
• Povitkina (2018: 425) casts doubt on
democracies’ ability to fight climate
change based on “the presence of
corrupt institutions”
Picture source: http://www.thetruthseeker.co.uk/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/Trump-thumbs-up.jpg
• Voter short-termism (voters don’t vote for the next generation but for their immediate benefit)
• Preference for “the cheapest solution” (voters don’t want to pay more)
• Resistance to change (people do not want to change their habits despite better knowledge)
• Resistance against “more expensive energy” (see above)
• Capitalism (allocates funds to most profitable projects, e.g. fossil fuels)
• Problems with “external costs” (difficulty for voters to grasp why they should pay for environmental issues
happening somewhere else)
• Unfounded optimism (people believe in miraculous solutions rather than steady change)
But there is hope:
• Looney (2018) points out that “as voters become better informed, so too will democratic governments adopt
better policies to promote climate stability.”
• Barry argues in an online presentation, that democracies require “social innovation” to successfully tackle
climate change but do have that potential.
• Ward (2011) understands the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) as one way of such
democratic social innovation and is optimistic regarding its success.
• Martinez and Gupta (2015) suggest a “platform vision” on energy and climate justice to solve the problem with
a positive outlook.
Examples for successful environmental governance:
• Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer (1987) outlawed Chloroflourocarbons
• Helsinki Protocol on the Reduction of Sulphur Emissions (1985) successfully reduced acid rain in Europe

Sources:
Barry, John: Can democracy meet the challenge of climate change? Presentation available online: https://www.academia.edu/35099562/Can_democracy_meet_the_challenge_of_climate_change-_J_Barry_final.pptx
Citizens’ Climate Lobby: https://citizensclimatelobby.org/
Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) (2019): Democracy Index 2018: Me too? Political participation, protest and democracy. available online: https://www.eiu.com/Handlers/WhitepaperHandler.ashx?fi=Democracy_Index_2018.pdf&mode=wp&campaignid=Democracy2018
Gardel, Nathan (2018): Democracy may fatally slow climate action. Washington Post, 13 September 2018. available online: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/theworldpost/wp/2018/09/13/saving-the-planet/?noredirect=on&utm_term=.93b28ed41b6b
The Guardian (2007): Can politicians solve climate change? 30. September 2007. available online: https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2007/sep/30/climatechange.features
The Irish Times (2018): Ireland must listen to Citizens’ Assembly on climate change . 1 June 2018, available online: https://www.irishtimes.com/opinion/ireland-must-listen-to-citizens-assembly-on-climate-change-1.3515211
Looney, Robert (2018): Democracy Is the Answer to Climate Change. In Foreign Policy 6/2018. available online: https://foreignpolicy.com/2016/06/01/democracy-is-the-answer-to-climate-change/
Martinez, Cecilia and Shalini Gupta (2015): Climate Justice & Energy Democracy: A Platform Vision. Center for Earth, Energy and Democracy (CEED). Available online: https://climatejusticealliance.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/Climate-Justice-_-Energy-Democracy-Platform-Vision_Final-
2015-1.pdf
Povitkina, Marina (2018) The limits of democracy in tackling climate change,Environmental Politics, 27:3, 411-432, DOI: 10.1080/09644016.2018.1444723
Randers, Jørgen (2015): Can Democracy Handle Climate Change? BI Norwegian Business School blog. 4 February 2015. available online: https://www.bi.edu/research/business-review/articles/2015/02/can-democracy-handle-climate-change/
Ward, Halina (2011): The Future of Democracy in the Face of Climate Change. Climate Change An overview of science, scenarios, projected impacts and links to democracy. Foundation for Democracy and Sustainable Development Paper Four, 1 January 2011. available online:
http://www.fdsd.org/site/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/Climate-change-science-impacts-and-links-to-democracy-final.pdf