Climate and the Earth System

Climate Governance

In Governing the Planet: Why We Need an Earth System Council Now (2025), Arthur Lyon Dahl argues that there is no mention
of the environment in the present UN Charter. It was only in 1972 that the UN organized its Conference on the Human Environment in Stockholm and, 20 years later the UN Conference on Environment and Development in Rio.

As discussed in Filling a Critical Gap in Global Environmental Governance (2022), to give coherence to this dispersed body of international law, we need a fourth UN Pillar: The Earth System Council. Other pillars include peace and security, economic and social development, and human rights. This new entity would bridge a critical gap in international environmental governance and remedy the significant fragmentation in the current system. The Council would provide strategic direction and coordinated action for the governance of the global commons and the Earth System.

The Economics of Climate

In Climate Change & World Economy: When an Irresistible Force Meets an Immovable Object (2023), Arthur Dahl explained that climate change is accelerating with irresistible force beyond the most alarmist scientific predictions, with a giant leap in global ocean temperatures and record heat waves around the world. Yet fossil fuels remain highly subsidized, and producing countries and companies are expanding production and making enormous profits. No one wants to abandon proven energy sources and systems that are so profitable, yet we still need technological breakthroughs and major transformations in present infrastructure and products. How can we respond? Again science provides some guidance. The latest Club of Rome report in 2022 “Earth for All: A survival guide for humanity” defines the five transformations needed in economics to avoid economic and social collapse. These include eliminating poverty, reducing inequality, empowering women, transforming food systems, and turning around the energy system.

Climate and Vulnerable Populations

In “Thinking About the Summit of the Future: Shaping its Agenda – Part II: Global Environmental Governance and Gender Equality”(2024), Arthur Lyon Dahl and Amanda Ellis highlight how the accelerating “triple planetary crisis” of climate change, biodiversity loss and pollution is driving global insecurity, with the poorest and least resilient communities bearing the highest costs. Climate change most severely impacts those least responsible for its causes: women, Indigenous peoples and vulnerable communities in fragile and low-income states. Dahl and Ellis emphasise that addressing these disparities requires a global pact for people and planet grounded in justice, equity and accountability. Therefore, countries that have benefited most from decades of planetary exploitation have a duty, under the principle of common but differentiated responsibilities, to lead a just transition to a sustainable future. They call for strengthening UNEP and the UN Environment Assembly, codifying the human right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment, and elevating environmental governance to parity with peace, development and human rights.

Climate Treaties and Agreements

Philip Landrigan and Sarah Stimson Karis in The United Nations Plastics Treaty – A Global Agreement to End Plastic Pollution: What is it? Why is it Needed? (2023), observe that plastics have become embedded in nearly every aspect of modern life: preserving food, advancing medicine, and reducing the weight of vehicles and aircraft. Yet this very success has produced severe environmental and health consequences. Recognizing the scale of the problem, countries launched negotiations in 2022 for a legally binding United Nations Global Plastics Treaty, intended to match the ambition of the Paris Agreement. The authors review the treaty’s goals, including establishing a global cap on virgin plastic production with clear targets and timelines, introducing bans or strict limits on unnecessary single-use plastics, and expanding extended producer responsibility so manufacturers are financially and operationally accountable for end-of-life management. They further proposes a standing science-policy advisory body to support implementation and periodic review.

Unfortunately, as Joshua Lincoln details in “After UN Talks Collapse, a Narrow Path to a Global Plastics Treaty” (2025), successive negotiation rounds have failed to produce an agreement due to sharp divisions over ambition and scope. Lincoln reviews how a coalition of small island states, the EU, Kenya and Chile pressed for binding limits on plastic production and recognition of Indigenous rights, while oil- and plastic-producing states (Saudi Arabia, Russia, the United States, China and India) opposed global obligations and sought to restrict the treaty to waste management. Lincoln notes that although consensus now appears out of reach, alternative pathways remain possible, such as negotiations outside a UN framework or consumer-driven initiatives.