The United Nations has been organising annual climate summits for the last 30 years, but despite all the talk and commitments, this process has failed to slow down or halt climate change.
The physical reality is that things have actually got much worse. Global warming has accelerated, which is no surprise given that nearly one trillion tonnes of CO2 pollution has been emitted to the atmosphere since COP1 in 1995.
COP30, currently taking place in Brazil, will most definitely produce more calls to action, but without radical reform, this failed institution will continue to be an empty ritual that makes no impact.
COP’s original mission – and its failure to deliver
The core purpose of these COP meetings (Conference of the Parties) is to take the decisions necessary for ‘the stabilization of greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere at a level that would prevent dangerous anthropogenic interference with the climate system’ (Article 2 of the UN Convention on Climate Change).
It has badly failed on both counts. Rather than greenhouse gas concentrations having been stabilised, they have risen by 17 per cent since COP1 (from 360 ppm to 424 ppm), and the increased frequency of heatwaves, floods, droughts and forest fires are clear evidence that a ‘dangerous interference’ with the Earth’s climate has already happened.
The human cost of climate inaction
This failure to take meaningful action has had devastating consequences for human health and wellbeing, with over 700,000 lives lost due to climate change-related extreme weather events over the last 30 years.
Extreme weather also drives people from their homes and communities, with at least 30 million people forcibly displaced in 2022.
Climate change has already caused significant damage to the natural ecosystems that humans rely on for their health and livelihoods. More than three billion people live in places that are vulnerable to climate change.
The failure of the current strategies and approaches for dealing with climate change has led to feelings of despair and helplessness, at least among those who still care about the health and wellbeing of the current generation of children who will inhabit the planet for the rest of this century.
But there is hope! Climate change is preventable. It is not inevitable or natural, and the human species still has the time, capacity and capability to act and return the planet to a healthy sustainable state.
A new narrative for climate and societal transformation
In our newly published paper ‘Moving beyond the sustainability impasse: Reframing global crises as societal dysfunction’, we present an alternative narrative about how to tackle the multiple crises facing contemporary society.
Socioenvironmental harms are the consequence of, and evidence for, a deeply dysfunctional society. If we are to address climate change, then we will have to address the underlying structural and systemic flaws or ‘pathologies’ in society.
Firstly though, we must diagnose and understand what causes contemporary society to malfunction so badly. One explanation for this dysfunction is that present-day society is grounded upon a causal system of harm-producing values or organising principles, including:
- Anthropocentrism;
- Categorical discrimination (e.g. skin colour, gender, class etc.);
- Competition and control;
- Economic primacy;
- Profit and wealth accumulation;
- Relentless economic growth.
These deeply ingrained ‘rules’ govern the way society is structured and organised, and they perpetuate systems that harm both people and the planet.
Rediscovering foundational human values
The transition away from the current state of unsustainability requires a shift in the foundational values that shape the way society and the economy evolve. We must rediscover and embed the values essential for sustaining healthy and flourishing human societies: dignity, justice, sufficiency and pluralism.
But it is not enough to simply articulate these ideals. Sustainability can only be accomplished by radically reforming or replacing the current institutions that perpetuate and permit ongoing harm and dysfunction – including the COP process itself.
Resistance from the powers that be
Transforming society on this scale will face immense resistance from those who benefit from the existing order. The big corporations and governments that profit from fossil fuels have been very effective at mobilising their wealth, power and influence to resist any meaningful change.
At COP29, for example, the fossil fuel lobbyists outnumbered the delegates from climate vulnerable countries – a stark illustration of how entrenched interests dominate the process.
The rise of authoritarianism as a barrier to change
The rise of authoritarianism is another major obstacle to climate action. Today 72 per cent of the world’s population is living under autocracies – compared to less than 50 per cent at the time of COP10 in 2004.
However, authoritarianism should be seen as a symptom of societal dysfunction, not its root cause. Addressing the causes of dysfunction through the institutionalisation of healthier values is the best way to resist and reverse authoritarian tendencies.
Three essential levers for transformative change
There are three components that need to be in place for achieving transformative social change
- A political process to redistribute power;
- A process of creating and reforming social institutions;
- A knowledge production process to inform public opinion and generate new solutions.
Throughout human history, radical change – both progressive and regressive – has been achieved by deploying these three essential levers of change. The establishment and eventual abolition of the Atlantic slave trade provide historical proof of their transformative potential.
Building a kinder and fairer future
The only way to ensure the long-term survival and wellbeing of our species is to build a kinder and fairer society. We have a responsibility to the next generations to act now and alter the current self-destructive trajectory.
There is no panacea or simple technological fix for dealing with the dangerous global challenges: it will involve a long-term struggle to bring about the radical transformation that we have described. The United Nations and COP are two of the key institutions that require urgent radical reform or replacement.
If we fail to act now, we might look back from COP60, when the world has become even hotter and more hazardous, and regret not having acted more courageously when we still had the chance.
Andy Brookes is an honorary senior fellow at the University of Lincoln.
Matthijs Bal is professor of responsible management at the University of Lincoln.
Moving beyond the sustainability impasse: Reframing global crises as societal dysfunction by Andy Brookes and Matthijs Bal from the Global Social Challenges Journal is available to read open access on Bristol University Press Digital here.
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