Falkner, Robert 
ORCID: 0000-0001-9990-6926 and Buzan, Barry
(2022)
Great powers, climate change and global responsibilities: a concluding assessment.
In: Falkner, Robert and Buzan, Barry, (eds.)
Great powers, climate change, and global environmental responsibilities.
Great Powers, Climate Change, and Global Environmental Responsibilities.
Oxford University Press, pp. 279-289.
ISBN 9780198866022
Abstract
This chapter provides a concluding assessment of the role that great powers play in the international politics of climate change. Building on the contributions to this volume, it concludes that a small group of major environmental powers are indeed responsible for a large share of global environmental degradation, with some (US, China) counting as systematically important powers. Power inequality also affects countries ability to promote global environmental solutions. Great powers play a prominent role in the creation of international environmental rules but have often failed to provide the necessary leadership to make environmental protection work. The chapter also reviews the reasons behind the failure to create a system of great power management for climate change, pointing to the difficulty of matching special responsibilities with great power privileges and profound disagreements among the great powers about their respective responsibilities. The chapter also identifies future securitization of climate change as a potential step towards a greater role for great power management, particularly so if current mitigation efforts fail to keep global warming to below two degrees Celsius. It concludes with an outlook on what steps should be undertaken to strengthen the special responsibilities of the few major environmental powers that hold the future of the planet in their hands.
| Item Type: | Book Section |
|---|---|
| Official URL: | https://global.oup.com/academic/product/great-powe... |
| Additional Information: | © 2022 Oxford University Press. |
| Divisions: | International Relations |
| Subjects: | J Political Science > JZ International relations |
| Date Deposited: | 27 Jun 2022 11:21 |
| Last Modified: | 11 Dec 2024 18:06 |
| URI: | http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/id/eprint/115443 |
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