| New York Times | - |
WASHINGTON
- The encyclical on the environment that Pope Francis released on
Thursday is as much an indictment of the global economic order as it is
an argument for the world to confront climate change.
WASHINGTON — The encyclical on the environment that Pope Francis released on Thursday is as much an indictment of the global economic order as it is an argument for the world to confront climate change.
It
offers blistering criticism of 21st-century capitalism, expressing
skepticism about market forces, criticizing consumerism and cautioning
about the costs of growth.
But
where Francis’ environmental and economic agendas meet, he leaves
something of a paradox, and ammunition potentially for both sides in the
debate over how to address climate change.
While
urging swift action to curb the burning of fossil fuels that have
powered economies since the Industrial Revolution, he also condemns the
trading of carbon-emission credits, saying it merely creates new forms
of financial speculation and does not bring about “radical change.” But
carbon trading is the policy most widely adopted by governments to
combat climate change, and it has been endorsed by leading economists as
a way to cut carbon pollution while sustaining economic growth.
The approach has taken on increased importance in the push for governments to sign a United Nations
climate change accord in Paris in December that would commit every
nation to enacting ambitious policies to cut their use of fossil fuels.
Francis’
encyclical also amplifies the argument that rich countries should
shoulder the economic burden of cutting emissions, an issue that has
blocked progress in global climate change negotiations for years.
While
environmentalists around the world praised the document, some of its
core messages could give pause to environmental economists and
negotiators who have sought to find a path to a new United Nations
accord that is politically palatable to major economies and
corporations.
In
particular, environmental economists criticized the encyclical’s
condemnation of carbon trading, seeing it as part of a radical critique
of market economies.
“I
respect what the pope says about the need for action, but this is out
of step with the thinking and the work of informed policy analysts
around the world, who recognize that we can do more, faster, and better
with the use of market-based policy instruments — carbon taxes and/or cap-and-trade systems,” Robert N. Stavins, the director of the environmental economics program at Harvard, said in an email.
Theologian Condemns ‘Ecological Sin’
Metropolitan John Zizioulas of Pergamon
says that the environmental crisis is a “spiritual problem,” during a
news conference on Thursday about Pope Francis’ encyclical on climate
change.
By Reuters on Publish Date June 18, 2015.
The
approach by the pope, an Argentine who is the first pontiff from the
developing world, is similar to that of a “small set of socialist Latin
American countries that are opposed to the world economic order, fearful
of free markets, and have been utterly dismissive and uncooperative in
the international climate negotiations,” Dr. Stavins said.
Francis’
embrace of the issue of climate change, and his broader critique of
global capitalism, stem from his signature economic concern: eradicating
poverty. He has won wide popularity, particularly on his home
continent, for an economic agenda focused on the poor.
Over
the past two years, the global development institutions most focused on
addressing poverty — including the World Bank, the African Development
Bank and the Asian Development Bank — have published economic research
identifying climate change as a leading driver of poverty, contributing
to rising sea levels that harm coastal areas in Southeast Asia, causing
crop failure in Africa, and driving a slowdown in growth across the
developing world. That research has informed the pope’s focus on climate
change.
In
the encyclical, Francis writes of “the intimate relationship between
the poor and the fragility of the planet,” and says, “Both everyday
experience and scientific research show that the gravest effects of all
attacks on the environment are suffered by the poorest.”
Jim
Yong Kim, the president of the World Bank, praised the document.
“Today’s release of Pope Francis’ first encyclical should serve as a
stark reminder to all of us of the intrinsic link between climate change
and poverty,” he said.
He added, “As the effects of climate change worsen, we know that escaping poverty will become even more difficult.”
Francis
has sought to use his moral authority to press for changes to economic
policy, and environmentalists hope it will add weight to his push on
climate change.
But
the encyclical’s criticism of market forces, and its references to
sacrificing economic growth to protect the environment, could have the
unintended consequence of strengthening the arguments of opponents of
climate change policy.
“Humanity
is called to recognize the need for changes of lifestyle, production
and consumption, in order to combat this warming or at least the human
causes which produce or aggravate it,” the pope wrote. “At one extreme,
we find those who doggedly uphold the myth of progress and tell us that
ecological problems will solve themselves simply with the application of
new technology and without any need for ethical considerations or deep
change.”
For
years, opponents of climate change policy have argued that a global
push to cut fossil fuel pollution will impede economic growth,
particularly in poor countries that are heavily dependent on cheap
fossil fuels.
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Francis’
encyclical could give ammunition to that argument, which is being
pressed by Republicans in Congress and on the presidential campaign
trail. But some liberal policy experts say the document aims to weaken
that case.
“He’s
rather brilliantly brought back a concept that has been lost for 30
years or so, since the beginning of the Reagan administration — he says
profit-making can’t be the sole criteria for decision-making,” said Jay
Hakes, a historian who focuses on energy issues and was a top energy
official in the administration of Jimmy Carter. “The pope’s ideas will
be jarring to a modern reader at first. He says that people should not
ascribe to the market magical qualities that can solve all problems.”
While
the pope’s arguments against markets are likely to play poorly in
Washington, they could play well in Latin American nations, especially
Brazil. That nation, one of the world’s largest polluters, has a
majority Roman Catholic population and has resisted devising an
aggressive climate change policy, in part because of its struggles with
poverty.
Internationally,
advocates of climate change policy, including many economists, have
pushed government efforts to put a price on carbon pollution, either
with a tax or a cap-and-trade program, in which governments charge a fee
to carbon polluters, and industry and market players can buy and sell
carbon credits among themselves. That system is in place in Europe,
California, several Northeastern states, and some parts of Canada and
China.
The
government of China, the world’s largest polluter, is moving toward a
national cap-and-trade system. Advocates of a United Nations climate
deal have encouraged governments to link their systems and bring others
into the fold. But Francis’ critique of that system, if it resonates
with governments, could hinder the efforts to expand cap-and-trade
measures.
The
pope said several times that developed economies owed a debt to poor
nations. “A true ‘ecological debt’ exists, particularly between the
global north and south, connected to commercial imbalances with effects
on the environment, and the disproportionate use of natural resources by
certain countries over long periods of time,” he said.
That
rich-poor divide has long stood in the way of successful climate change
negotiations, with developing nations such as India refusing in the
past to enact policies without promises of aid from wealthy nations. But
the aim of the December summit meeting is to commit every country, rich
and poor, to plans that cut emissions.
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