Today, at the Estonian Pavilion, Kaja Kallas, Prime Minister of Estonia, Katrin Jakobsdottir, Prime Minister of Iceland, and David R Boyd, UN Human Rights Council Special Rapporteur on human rights and the environment, gathered at a high-level opening session to discuss integrating climate, foreign and security policy.
This opening session took place against a backdrop of increasing geopolitical tensions and conflicts, which the Pavilion outlined risks both intensifying the climate crisis, and distracting from it.
Clear policy that creates action
During the session, Prime Minister of Iceland, Katrin Jakobsdottir, outlined that when it comes to the energy transition, there is a high degree of variability between countries, with different starting points. Iceland, she noted, for example, has undergone a “very radical energy transition.”
The country is home to over two hundred volcanoes and currently heats 90 per cent of all homes with this green energy.
But, she also underlined that alongside this, the country is a big emitter with high consumption levels. Indeed, the country’s yearly per-capita electricity consumption is the highest in the world.
Jakobsdottir did note, however, the impact that effective legislation can have, and referenced legislating circular within the country. “So changes can absolutely happen, but we need to have politicians that are ready to go forward, and have the legislation and policies to really make the change in culture. That’s so necessary.”
Climate crisis a human rights & security crisis
Beyond policy and government action, David R Boyd said that it’s “critical” for people to hear and understand that the climate crisis is a human rights crisis and security crisis, “and these things cannot be broken apart,” he said.
Further, Boyd noted that this is “directly linked to inequality” and as such, we can’t solve the climate crisis unless we solve the economic crisis.
Highlighting the disparity of impact between countries, Boyd highlighted that the richest one per cent account for the same amount of greenhouse gas emissions as the poorest 66%
“We need to accelerate the pace of change; wealthy countries must take the lead in phasing out fossil fuels as rapidly as possible,” he said.
Boyd also underlined the imperative to ramp up climate finance in developing countries, using Botswana as a case study.
While a middle-income country, Botswana generates 99 per cent of its electricity from coal. However, he noted that solar power would be cheaper at a rate of three cents per kilowatt hour compared to ten cents per kilowatt hour for coal. Yet, this is inaccessible due to a lack of funds.
“The money has to flow from the North to the South. We have to get funds from countries that have benefited so immensely from the economic exploitation of fossil fuels and other natural resources, and it has to happen quickly.”
Rising temperatures mean that for many in Botswana, the heat is now unbearable, he said, something affecting both water scarcity and security: “These are all interconnected issues,” he said.
“If we invest in those countries to help make life livable, to respect their human rights, we will all be so much better off.”
Phasing out fossil fuels
The “phase out,” or “phase down” of fossil fuels is the subject of great debate and disagreement at this year’s COP28, despite the climate science being crystal clear.
Speaking on this, Jakobsdottir said that it’s imperative that the politicians and governments of the world show leadership: “That’s why this meeting is so important that we actually have clear leadership saying, ‘we are going to phase out fossil fuels. And we’re going to stop subsidising them.'” she said, adding: “It’s crazy [the] fact that the world is subsidising fossil fuels after all this time, and shows that something is not working in our global system.”
Boyd agreed, calling the subsidisation of fossil fuels in a climate crisis “madness,” referencing recent IMF research that put the number at roughly $6 trillion.
On the flipside, Boyd said that putting a price of $30 per tonne on greenhouse gas emissions, would raise over a trillion dollars. “You could use some of that money to make sure that low-income households weren’t harmed by that tax, but you could use the lion’s share of that money to assist [places like] Botswana shift to renewables, or help small island states shift funds into adaptation.”
A stark statistic was also shared at the Pavilion: there are countries in Africa spending 50 cents of every government dollar on servicing their debt.
“How on God’s green earth are they supposed to pay for climate action when they can’t even provide a budget for education, healthcare and social programmes?”
The solution? According to Boyd, carbon taxes, debt relief and some form of wealth or earth damages tax.
Kaja Kallas, Prime Minister of Estonia, also pointed to the harmful false narratives surrounding climate change, that prop up investment in fossil fuels, citing economic benefit. “I think that is the challenge,” she said. Adding: “One thing that we have to communicate is that you can’t say that you care about the people when you don’t care about the environment that they live in.”