The latest round of UN climate talks is beginning in Lima, Peru. The main focus is on concluding a new climate change agreement in a year’s time.
The new agreement is meant to hold climate change to a level which is “safe”, but what that means is one of many contested issues.
What is safe for rich countries with capacity to adapt may not be safe for poor and vulnerable countries, which have argued for a 1.5°C limit rather than the 2°C agreed in the UN talks some years ago.
Climate damage
One of the questions in the UN negotiations is how “loss and damage” will fit into the future climate agreement. Loss and damage occurs when negative climate impacts go beyond the limits of adaptation. Countries have accepted that climate change has advanced to a point where adaptation is not always possible. A new mechanism is in place under the overall framework treaty (the UNFCCC), the “Warsaw International Mechanism”, but its role is limited and it is unclear what it can achieve.
International law suits against big emitters could be one route for countries and communities that have suffered climate damage, but there are many challenges involved (for example complicated legal issues, costs, need for expertise which poor and vulnerable countries and communities may not have).
Could learning from transitional justice help?
Transitional justice refers to approaches that have been used in countries that are trying to move from violent conflict and human rights abuses to a better future. They include criminal trials, truth-seeking, governance reforms and reparations for victims. It involves compromises and accepting less-than-perfect justice, but transitional justice has made it possible for devastated societies to move forward.
Transitional justice could help in climate change-related situations on the ground. For example, when people have been displaced from their homes because of climate change impacts.
Learning from transitional justice could also help the international community to find a better way forward.
There are great differences between the terrible circumstances of societies that are trying to recover from violence and human rights abuses and global climate change-related issues.
However, climate change is causing damage and impacting human rights. Climate change is like nothing the world has faced before - it demands a new level of international cooperation. The international community needs to find a better way forward in the fight against climate change.
Apology and reconciliation?
Greenhouse gas emissions have grown in rapidly industrializing developing countries, but developed countries bear the historical responsibility for climate change. In the eyes of many developing countries they have not done enough yet to take the lead in combating climate change, as they promised to do.
When a country has broken international law – for example caused damage to another country - it can be required to make reparations. Reparations can include returning things to their original state, money or “satisfaction”, which can involve for example a public apology. International law recognizes the importance of saying that you are sorry.
Developed countries, in particular the big emitters, should consider the power of a symbolic apology, which recognizes that their development choices started climate change. It could open the door to a new and better phase of international cooperation on climate change.