Climate Technology and Climate Justice

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With the advent of climate change, and associated transnational
climate policy, it has become critical to develop a deeper
understanding of the socio-ecological relations of emissions
reduction. Climate technologies are often presented as technical
solutions designed to reduce the emission of greenhouse gasses.
But they are also social technologies, conditional upon social and
political legitimacy. The concept of a stable climate itself is
socially defined, as any rise in global temperature produces social
injustice. The purpose of the technology is framed by definitions of
justice, reflecting its socio-ecological logic. Its success depends on
social legitimacy. What, then, are the social preconditions for
climate technologies? How may emission-reduction require
broader social transformations, and how can climate technology enable this? What is the relationship between climate technology
and climate justice?
Participants:
Energy and climate change in India, Germany and Australia: a
comparison in the social legitimacy of renewable energy
Devleena Ghosh, School of Communication, Faculty of Arts
and Social Sciences, University of Technology Sydney;
James Goodman, University of Technology Sydney
A key outcome of the Paris Agreement is that ‘intended
nationally-determined contributions’ for decarbonisation
are to be implemented across the globe, with ‘successive’
and intensifying commitments post-2020. However, the
conditions for decarbonisation vary dramatically both
within and across high-income ‘post-industrial’ and low-
income industrialising countries. This paper compares the
social relations of electricity generation in India, Germany
and Australia to better understand and theorise the
different preconditions for decarbonisation and adoption
of renewable energy. It draws on recent climate and
energy policy documents in the three countries to help
understand the emerging relationship between climate
technologies and social justice. It explores the dominant
socio-ecological relations of energy production,
distribution and consumption in India, Germany and
Australia. How are these relations being changing with
the increasing reliance on renewable energy? What are the
implications and prospects for strengthened social
legitimacy of renewable energy in the three countries?
A ‘new agenda’ for solar energy in India? Manju Menon,
University of Technology Sydney; Kanchi Kohli, Centre for
Policy Development, New Delhi
As the largest democracy and the fourth largest emitter of
global carbon emissions, India faces moral pressure and
an unprecedented opportunity to decarbonise its domestic
energy system. Three policy documents mark the
government outlook towards domestic energy production
in light of climate change concerns. The draft National
Energy Policy of 2017 sets a "new agenda" while the
Solar Energy Policies of the state governments of
Rajasthan (2014) and Telangana (2015), lay out a
roadmap for achieving the ambitious national renewable
energy targets. Through a review of these documents
along the themes of transparency, public participation and
justice, the paper concludes that a continued democratic
deficit in energy governance can delegitimise and derail
the ambitious renewable energy targets as well as the
national energy policy as a whole.
Energy Transformation as a Social Process: Post-Coal Politics
and Energy Transition in Eastern Germany Tom Morton,
University of Technology Sydney
The German Energiewende or energy transition has been
described as “one of the most ambitious national energy
transition initiatives worldwide” (Moss et al, 2014, 1) –
an ambitious suite of policy measures which aims for full
decarbonization of the economy by 2050 and a transition
to an energy system in which energy supply is almost
fully based on renewable energies (Matthes 2015).
However, the Energiewende is not simply a set of
technological solutions and policy instruments, but also a
social process. This paper builds on a local ethnography
of the Energiewende conducted in 3 villages in Lusatia
(Eastern Germany) from 2014-17, in which the energy
transition has become integrated into the fabric of rural
life. The villages are threatened by an expanded coal mine, and the paper analyzes the motivations and
mentalities underlying the villagers’ commitment to the
process of energy transition. It suggests how this analysis
might inform the process of structural change and energy
transition underway at a regional level in the state of
Brandenburg.
Mapping a Laggard: Climate Policy Networks in Australia
Francesca Da Rimini, University of Technology Sydney;
Pradip Swarnakar, ABV-Indian Institute of Information
Technology & Management, India; James Goodman,
University of Technology Sydney
As a resource-rich country, Australia is heavily dependent
on coal and gas: ninety percent of electricity is produced
by fossil fuels and energy accounts for a third of
commodity exports. The Australian Government has been
a persistent laggard in climate policy. In 1997 Australia
was one of three industrialised societies to negotiate a rise
in emissions as part of its obligations under the Kyoto
Protocol. More recently the Australian Government has
strongly promoted Australia as an energy export platform,
especially for coal and gas. In climate policy Australia
now bucks the global trend: in 2015 the Grantham
Institute’s Global Climate Legislation Survey described
Australia as ‘the first developed country to take a
legislative step back from acting on climate change’. This
paper investigates what is distinctive about Australia’s
climate policy-making networks, to help explain its
stance. The paper reports on an Australian component of
the 18-country ‘Comparing Climate Policy Networks’
study. It analyses the results of survey and interview-
based research in order to map the main influences on
Australian climate policy-making. The paper compares
these results with parallel investigations in other
countries, seeking to account for variation.
Civil Society and the Climate Change Movement in India: A
Critical Evaluation of Development-Environment Dialectic
from Rio to Paris Ruchira Talukdar, School of
Communication, Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences,
University of Technology Sydney; Pradip Swarnakar, ABV-
Indian Institute of Information Technology & Management,
India
India holds a dual position in today's global climate
politics. On the one hand India is a major contributor to
carbon emissions, and on the other it is a developing
economy with low per capita and historic emissions. In
climate debates, India positions itself as a developing
nation with an urgent need to meet the basic needs of its
citizens. The “right to development” narrative has been
strengthened with the idea of “common but differentiated
responsibility.” Therefore, the concept of climate justice
has had a predominantly outward focus towards global
equity. Against this backdrop, our paper aims to identify
critical civil society narratives on climate justice and their
movements against national and international actors. To
examine the dynamics of the climate movement in India,
we focussed on the period from the Rio Earth summit to
COP21 in Paris. Employing the conceptual framework of
"climate-dialectic," we critically evaluated significant
networks and mobilisations around climate change, or
other related movements whose impact may be attributed
to mitigating climate change. We found that most
movements initiated as local resistances to protect
livelihoods and human rights of communities, although
anti-coal and anti-dam projects were also likely to impact the debate. In conclusion, we have highlighted that unlike
Northern countries, India lacks a grand narrative on
climate change movement mobilized by transnational
environmental non-governmental organizations. Instead,
the Indian movement can be regarded as a mosaic of
dispersed mobilisations that challenge the deleterious
effects of development, from which common themes for
an emergent climate justice debate can be drawn.
Session Organizer:
James Goodman, University of Technology Sydney

License

Creative Commons Licence

Contributors

Contributed date

January 18, 2019 - 11:55am

Critical Commentary

4S Conference 2018

Language

English

Cite as

Devleena Ghosh, School of Communication, Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, University of Technology Sydney; James Goodman and University of Technology Sydney, "Climate Technology and Climate Justice", contributed by Hema Vaishnavi Ale, STS Infrastructures, Platform for Experimental Collaborative Ethnography, last modified 18 January 2019, accessed 28 March 2024. https://stsinfrastructures.org/content/climate-technology-and-climate-justice