Early knowledge but delays in climate actions: An ecocide case against both transnational oil corporations and national governments
Recent articles have demonstrated the knowledge and accuracy of oil corporations’ predictions made since the 1950s on the effects of their products on the global environment. But can the early relationship between oil corporations and national governments and lack of climate actions by both actors count as ecocide? If so, should remedial strategies appeal to freer markets for oil or greater state regulation? Cast within the wide context of investigating the collusion at play between powerful political-economic actors and decision-makers as monopolists and debates about ‘the modern corporation and private property’ (Berle and Means, 1932/2017), ‘the new industrial state’ (Galbraith, 1967), and ‘the economic theory of regulation’ (Stigler, 1971), the paper reviews the contentious relationship between states, corporations, and markets. Specifically, the article probes strategies of oil corporations and national governments intended to delay the inclusion of environmental concerns in policies and avoid accountability. Our method of content analysis of articles, reports, and international declarations of different actors and periods relies on a qualitative methodology and ontology of critical realism. We find that not only did oil corporations hide the truth, but also that national governments, that knew (or should have known) about the threat posed by oil industrial activities and which have wider responsibilities than corporations, did not act and are (at least) as responsible and as ‘ecocidal’ in what could be called an oil TNC-state alliance. Accordingly, we open the avenues for redressing an evolutionary shift from markets and states to commons, and embedding power within communities (Polanyi, 1945) along with a more universal right to bring a case of ecocide against both transnational oil corporations and states that collude with them.
Journal Reference:
Stephan J. Hauser, Tere Vadén, Michiru Nagatsu, Franklin Obeng-Odoom, Jussi T. Eronen,
‘Early knowledge but delays in climate actions: An ecocide case against both transnational oil corporations and national governments’, Environmental Science & Policy 161 (2024). DOI: doi.org/10.1016/j.envsci.2024.103880
Temperature controls the relation between soil organic carbon and microbial carbon use efficiency
Microbial carbon use efficiency (CUE) is an important variable mediating microbial effects on soil organic carbon (SOC) since it summarizes how much carbon is used for microbial growth or is respired. Yet, the role of CUE in regulating SOC storage remains debated, with evidence for both positive and negative SOC-CUE relations. Here, we use a combination of measured data around the world and numerical simulations to explore SOC-CUE relations accounting for temperature (T) effects on CUE. Results reveal that the sign of the CUE-T relation controls the direction of the SOC-CUE relations. A negative CUE-T relation leads to a positive SOC-CUE relation and vice versa, highlighting that CUE-T patterns significantly affect how organic carbon is used by microbes and hence SOC-CUE relations. Numerical results also confirm the observed negative SOC-T relation, regardless of the CUE-T patterns, implying that temperature plays a more dominant role than CUE in controlling SOC storage. The SOC-CUE relation is usually negative when temperature effects are isolated, even though it can become positive when nonlinear microbial turnover is considered. These results indicate a dominant role of CUE-T patterns in controlling the SOC-CUE relation. Our findings help to better understand SOC and microbial responses to a warming climate.
Journal Reference:
Zhaoyang Luo, Jianning Ren, Stefano Manzoni, Simone Fatichi, ‘Temperature controls the relation between soil organic carbon and microbial carbon use efficiency’, Global Change Biology 30, e17492 (2024). DOI: 10.1111/gcb.17492
Climate change and antibiotic resistance: A scoping review
This scoping review aimed to investigate the potential association between climate change and the rise of antibiotic resistance while also exploring the elements of climate change that may be involved. A scoping review was performed following the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses extension for Scoping Reviews, comprehensively searching scientific literature up to 31 January 2024. Multiple databases were utilized, including MEDLINE, Web of Science and SCOPUS. Various search strategies were employed, and selection criteria were established to include articles relevant to antibiotic resistance and climate change. The review included 30 selected articles published predominantly after 2019. Findings from these studies collectively suggest that rising temperatures associated with climate change can contribute to the proliferation of antibiotic resistance, affecting diverse ecosystems. This phenomenon is observed in soil, glaciers, rivers and clinical settings. Rising temperatures are associated with a rise in the prevalence of antibiotic resistance across various environments, raising concerns for global health. However, these studies provide valuable insights but do not establish a definitive causal link between environmental temperature and antibiotic resistance. The selective pressure exerted by antibiotics and their residues in ecosystems further complicates the issue.
Journal Reference:
María Fernández Salgueiro, José Antonio Cernuda Martínez, Rick Kye Gan, Pedro Arcos González, ‘Climate change and antibiotic resistance: A scoping review’, Environmental Microbiology Reports (vol. 16, Iss. 5; 2024). DOI: 10.1111/1758-2229.70008
The electoral consequences of the political divide on climate change
This paper examines how climate change has become a polarizing and politicized issue in the United States and assesses the relationship between regional exposure to the green economy and voting in US elections over the course of a decade. After measuring the share of employment related to the green economy at county level, I estimate the impact of county-level exposure to this economy on the share of votes cast for Democrats in elections for the House of Representatives and the Presidency. I find that US counties that have been more exposed to the green economy have increased their share of votes cast for Democrats in Congressional elections since the 2016 elections, based on both county-level and constructed district-level data. This is because Democratic politicians are considerably more likely to adopt pro-green positions, making them an attractive choice for voters seeking representatives who will promote green policies. This paper also finds that a shift toward Democratic candidates has mostly occurred in Republican incumbent districts with a high proportion of green-intensive employment that did not receive any support for green investment from the government after 2016. The results imply that climate change has become an important determinant of voting decisions and that this change in motivation on the part of voters has come about primarily with the aim of punishing Republican incumbents rather than rewarding Democratic incumbents or challengers.
Journal Reference:
JunYun Kim, ‘The electoral consequences of the political divide on climate change’, Kyklos (online version; 2024). DOI: 10.1111/kykl.12409
Social-ecological systems modeling for drought-food security nexus
Droughts pose severe threats to social systems, particularly to food security which is one of the priority targets in the UN’s sustainable development goals (SDG 2). The drought-food insecurity nexus entails the complex social-ecological systems (SES) relationships (e.g., feedback) that underpin food insecurity, leading to disastrous consequence to society. To advance the knowledge on capturing the SES relationships of the drought-food insecurity nexus, an SES model was employed (first attempt) to simulate these relationships to inform policies on food security in the context of climate change in Bangladesh. Different “what if” scenarios were examined determining the possible future trajectories of the system under socio-economic and climate scenarios. Findings revealed that (i) with business-as-usual scenario, crop production and food security continue to increase at the expense of declining water resources over the simulation period; (ii) temperature changes (3.5–5.7°C) and surface water reduction due to dam and sustained groundwater decline may reduce food security (~55%); (iii) tipping risk increases due to severe reduction of food security when increasing temperature (>3.5°C) is combined with upstream water withdrawal (30%–50%), subsidy reduction (50%–100%), population growth and political instability. These indicate the need for an SES system perspective for increasing crop production and food security, simultaneously ensuring sustainable water resources and climate change adaptation. The model and findings are useful to achieve food security, and other related SDGs (1&6) in the context of climate change in Bangladesh and similar areas (e.g., Kenya), informed by the consequences of plausible alternative futures.
Journal Reference:
Debashis Roy, Steven A. Gillespie, Md Sarwar Hossain, ‘Social-ecological systems modeling for drought-food security nexus’, Sustainable Development (online ver.; 2024). DOI: 10.1002/sd.3178
Spatiotemporal relationship between agriculture, livestock, deforestation, and visceral leishmaniasis in Brazilian legal Amazon
Visceral leishmaniasis (VL) is an urgent public health concern in Brazil. We evaluated the spatiotemporal distribution of VL to better understand the effects of economic activities related to agriculture, livestock, and deforestation on its incidence in the Brazilian Legal Amazon (BLA). The data on newly confirmed cases of VL in Brazilian municipalities from 2007 to 2020 were extracted from the Brazilian Notifiable Diseases Information System (SINAN) and analyzed. The data on agricultural production (planted area in hectares) and livestock (total number of cattle) were obtained from the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE), whereas deforestation data (in hectares) were obtained from the Amazon Deforestation Estimation Project (PRODES). SatScan and the local indicators of spatial association (LISA) were used to identify the spatial and temporal patterns of VL and its relationships with economic and environmental variables. The cumulative incidence rate was found to be 4.5 cases per 100,000 inhabitants. Based on the LISA results, areas with a high incidence of VL and deforestation were identified in the states of Roraima, Pará, and Maranhão. Strengthening deforestation monitoring programs and environmental enforcement actions can help implement public policies to control illegal deforestation and mitigate the socio-environmental vulnerability in the BLA. Therefore, areas identified in this study should be prioritized for controlling VL.
Journal Reference:
Hage, R.d.S., Nunes e Silva, S.V., Bohm, B.C. et al. ‘Spatiotemporal relationship between agriculture, livestock, deforestation, and visceral leishmaniasis in Brazilian legal Amazon’, Scientific Reports 14, 21542 (2024). DOI: 10.1038/s41598-024-72719-y
Unaddressed non-energy use in the chemical industry can undermine fossil fuels phase-out
Around 13% of fossil fuels globally are used for non-combustion purposes. Fossil fuel processing plants, such as petroleum refineries, exhibit interdependent material and energy system dynamics, making the transition away from fossil fuels in energy systems more challenging without addressing the non-energy outputs. This study explores the future role of fossil fuels for non-energy purposes in climate-stringent scenarios with restrictions on alternative feedstock availability, focusing on the primary chemicals sector. Using a global integrated assessment model with detailed refining and primary chemicals sectors, findings across various scenarios reveal that up to 62% of total feedstock use in the chemical sector could be provided by alternative sources by 2050. This would require significant scale-up in biomass utilisation and carbon capture technologies. Annual CO2 emissions from the chemical sector could be reduced to as low as −1Gt CO2 by the same year if carbon storage in non-recycled and non-incinerated bioplastics is accounted for.
Journal Reference:
Zanon-Zotin, M., Baptista, L.B., Draeger, R. et al. ‘Unaddressed non-energy use in the chemical industry can undermine fossil fuels phase-out’, Nature Communications 15, 8050 (2024). DOI: 10.1038/s41467-024-52434-y
Featured image credit: kjpargeter | Freepik
