The Politics of Climate Change

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Figure 1a WWF Footprint Calculator

results

Figure 2a Carbon
Independent results

Figure 2b Carbon
Independent Statistics

Figure 3
Carbon
Footprint

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Self-Reflective Exercise: Carbon Footprint Calculators

As climate change becomes a more evident threat and a resurgent topic in
most of our social, political, economic and obviously ecological spheres. It is
important to set out what climate change is and how it links to the
individual, in order to comprehend in which ways we contribute to it and
how we can change those ways. Giddens describes climate change as the
fact that greenhouse gas emissions produced by modern industry are
causing the earth climate to warm up (Giddens, 2011, p.1) ergo global
warming and climate change are strictly linked together. The consequences
of global warming if not mitigated will be catastrophic for everybody.
However, they will not be immediate thus, most discussions around climate
change policy are handicapped for they hinge on the uncertainties inherent
in long-term projections of the earth-climate system (Turner, 2014, p.66).
Furthermore, there are still individuals that deny climate change existence
and globally little progress has been made towards effective collective
action. In fact, it could be argued that we are regressing with examples as
the result of recent US elections, which is a clear example of the importance
of individual awareness for climate change action. Moreover, contrary to
some ungrounded claims there is still no way possible to eliminate
greenhouse gasses from the atmosphere once they are emitted and once in
it there will be there for centuries (Giddens, 2011, p.2) hence although
consequences do not pose a threat to our lifestyle yet, our current lifestyle
keeps on actively helping towards increasing global warming.
Individual awareness is essential for climate change mitigation, recent
analyses have viewed carbon footprints calculators as very relevant in terms
of making people aware of the social, economic, and ecological relations
that underpin the experience of consumption (Bridge 2010). How carbon is
counted has important implications for the allocation of responsibility for
climate change, carbon footprints help us understand how this responsibility
cannot be denied or avoided by relying on other agents such as the nation
state, as we all share a common responsibility. Carbon footprint is
understood as the total amount of greenhouse gasses produced to directly and indirectly
support human activities, usually expressed in equivalent tons of carbon dioxide
(Timeforchange, 2016). It is a common mistake to assume that individuals
can only do so little to tackle global warming and that the major burden
relies on states, the carbon footprint has proven to be a static concept that
allows individuals to both contextualize their contributions to climate change
and take action to address those emissions (Turner,2014, p.63). Second
generation carbon footprints especially helped dismantle this conception as
they improved the process of calculating our emissions further
demonstrating that they are the product of the complex and creative
interactions between the economic, scientific, and political processes that
cannot be isolated from one another or even within each nation-state. It was
able to do so as they recognized indirect emissions through consumption-
based analysis by taking into account sourcing, manufacturing, or
transporting of all goods and services (Turner, 2014,p.74). Ergo, considering
the relevance international trade has and the interconnected world we live
in, everyone is responsible for climate change as we all either take part or
enjoy the processes mentioned above.

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In order to calculate my carbon footprint, I used three different platforms to

gain a better understanding of the different criteria used to calculate my
emissions. All of the calculators I used are organized in a similar manner
dividing their questioning between the notions of food, home, transport and
stuff or secondary. WWF calculator shown in figure 1a would qualify as a
first-generation carbon footprint calculator according to Turner writings, as
their questioning is mainly focused on fossil fuel and energy use emissions.
This may be because it is quite new as it developed from what it used to be
an ecological footprint calculator which in turn is quite positive as it also
gives you an ecological result in spatial terms represented with the
percentage of the world you use. On the other hand, out of all the
calculators I tried it is the only one that uses this platform to actively
encourage you to take action by giving you tips and advice on what you
could change. For instance, thanks to WWF I learned about the importance
of composting, without it, our waste is dumped in landfill and it turns into
methane. I was already aware of methane as a result of livestock (especially
beef) and other agricultural practices and that is why I cut down my beef
consumption drastically, however, I did not know about the benefits of
composting. This was a really helpful finding especially because food
constitutes 20% of all of my emissions and methane is the second biggest
contributor greenhouse gas to global warming (EPA,2016). It also had really
helpful and efficient tips about energy saving at home such as double
glazing and others, which helped me realize that is one of the reasons my
energy spending is higher than average, as my house is quite old and the
only energy saving measure I am able to take is using energy saving
lightbulbs.

Figure 1a
WWF
Footprint
Calculator
energy
saving
advice

As Theodor Porter stated the importance of carbon footprint relies on their

capability of transforming climate change to a meaningful figure at an
individual level (Porter,T., 1995). However, this argument is counteracted by
the critique that carbon footprint calculators are only able to offer an
estimated result as they rely on the idea that the individual maintains a
consistent lifestyle. That is why I used various calculators to get a more
precise understanding. I consider Figure 2 and Figure 3 to be second
generation carbon footprint calculators as they focused more on indirect
emissions giving a more accurate result. Carbon Independent calculator
first noticeable difference was that it made you specify quantities in terms of
house spending and transport which proved really helpful as you could play
with numbers to see what impact you made. For instance, in our house only
one of us has a car so we organise ourselves to go to university together.
The platform gave you the results of how much emissions the car had over
the year, however, as there was four of us you were also able to see each
individual emission. To my surprise, I entered the same number of miles in

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bus journeys and it turned out to be more sustainable to travel by car when
there was four of us than by bus. In terms of food, you could clearly see the
difference in Carbon Footprint 2.0 as takes into account food packaging,
processing and transport which meant that my food choices made my
carbon emissions much higher as seen in Figure 2c. Finally, Carbon Footprint
(Figure 3) is also a second-generation calculator and resulted quite thorough
when calculating their secondary section, just itself constituted 9.07 tons of
my Co2 emission (shown in Figure 3). I found this section helpful as it
included pharmaceuticals, textiles, recreational, cultural and sporting
activities, restaurants and hotels among others giving authentic result
overall as it did not assume participants have a uniform lifestyle.
Overall, although my footprint varied with the different platforms I tried it is
still ten times higher than it should be if we take into consideration WWF
statistics which claim: to avoid the worst
impacts of climate change, we need to keep
global warming well below 2C. If everyone on
the planet was allocated a fair share of
carbon emissions, each person should have a
footprint of 1.05 tons by the year 2050.
(WWF,2016). On the other hand, this activity
has helped me understand there are some
easy changes I must apply to my lifestyle.
Firstly, in my alimentation by purchasing more
organic, locally produced and non-processed
food and composting, secondly in terms of
transport as I expected studying abroad had a
huge negative impact towards global warming
with 2.5 tons of my emissions coming from
flights (Figure 2a) and finally being more conscious in my miscellaneous
Figure 2c Carbon
activities in general taking more into consideration the indirect emissions
Independent
Questionnaire
behind each item I purchase.

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Figure 4 - Carbon dioxide emissions for long-distance travel per: (a) passenger / kilometre and (b) freight / kilometre. (Bonnafous,and Raux, 2

Aviation and Climate Change Politics

Aviation has become an essential industry in todays economic system and
this is a topic I became really interested in after calculating my carbon
footprint. The fact that I am an international student meant my carbon
footprint became instantly higher no matter how sustainable my lifestyle
was, as flights had a huge direct and indirect impact on greenhouse gas
emissions.
Aircraft emissions represent about 3% of all global Co2 emissions
furthermore, aircrafts not only emit Co2 but a combination of gases such as
NOx, which as a product of a chemical reaction and ends up turning into
ozone which is another greenhouse gas (Chapman, 2007). Altogether, the
radiative forcing resulted by the combination of aircraft emissions is
estimated to be 2-4 times greater than just the impact of CO 2 alone (Lee,

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2004) making aviation (jointly with diesel cars, as shown in Figure 4) the
most polluting way of transport available for both people and goods.
Additionally, aviation is the fastest growing industry within transport. In
2007, the airline industry global emissions reached around 697 million tons;
by 2050, the annual total may reach 1,597 million tons (Staniland, 2012,
p.1009). Although this data might sound alarming at first it is more
frightening to realize that very little has been made to tackle this ever-
increasing problem. With studies claiming that today's passenger aircraft are
no more fuel-efficient than those that flew half a century ago and recent
science showing that most biofuels, considered as an alternative before, are
more likely to increase rather than reduce emissions (Dings, 2010, p.9).
Moreover, institutionally since the topic of aircraft emissions first appeared
in the international relations realm at the United Nations Framework
Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in 1992, the progress has been
really slow and uneasy.
The firsts policy activity towards aviation emissions started with the Kyoto
Protocols mandate to the United Nations specialized agency for air
transport, the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) to pursue
limitation or reduction of the targeted greenhouse gases on international
flights (United Nations, 1998). Howbeit, structural problems within the ICAO
and political disparities such as the divide between developing and
developed countries, resulted in action towards the development of a global
regime for emissions being really slow. This handicap disappointed
environmental non-governmental organisations and the European
Parliament which decided to start taking action by themselves. In 2006, the
EU submitted a proposal to implement a legislation to adapt the basic
Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) mechanism into air transport, which in
practical terms means that airlines and other commercial aircraft operators
will receive an annual allocation of carbon allowances. Such activity is
measured in revenue / ton-km and the payload is meant to encourage
efficient fuel usage. After amendment and approval, this legislation took
effect in February 2009, and in January 2012 commercial aviation became
formally subject to the ETS (Staniland, 2012, p.1012). The legislation's
purpose goes as follows: The legislation envisages reducing by 2020
annual Co2 emissions from commercial aircraft operating to and from EU
airports to a level of around 200 million tons (Ibid, p.1012).
The problem arose when setting the criteria for the legislation, as it aimed at
implementing the ETS mechanisms to all of the aviation industries that had
the EU as departure or destination even if those companies were not
European. This had serious financial implications for all airlines which lead to
a major conflict between the EU and non-European member states. Most of
these complaints focused on legal argument that EUs action infringed on
the sovereignty of states over their own airspace (Ibid, p.1014). EU non-
members legal argument was debunked as the Chicago Convention on
International Civil Aviation allows states to require compliance with its own
laws as a condition for allowing aircraft to enter its airspace (Convention on
International Civil Aviation, 7 December 1944).
To conclude, it is essential for more climate change mitigation action to be
taken on aviation as its impacts as explained in this analysis are

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tremendously harming. Operationally, aviation is a cross-border industry

itself, likewise their emissions are also distributed globally by the industry
and by natural processes therefore it makes sense for it to be tackles with a
global regulatory regime. Per contra, the industrys regulatory system is
based on the absolute sovereignty of the on which is based in. Once again,
as with most of climate change issues sovereignty a major impediment
towards easy effective action. This dilemma would become way easier to
deal with if a multilateral environmental agreement (MEA )with clear and
solid standards were to be reached between a fair share of the main actors.
This way domestic industries would not have to fear about financial
implication or loss of competitiveness as their rivals would have to comply
with the same standards and once the major actors agreed to this
agreement it would lead the way for the rest to follow.

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