UfU Information | Issue 9 – July 2023 | Foreword
Foreword by the editors
Dear UfU member, dear friend,
It has become warm. While most people are understandably enjoying summer temperatures, water is running out in France, water levels in the Rhine are dropping even earlier than last year and Spain experienced temperatures of almost 40 degrees in April. The occurrence of heatwaves, which are now becoming more frequent due to man-made climate change, is once again accompanied by discussions about key issues such as the supply of fresh air, green infrastructure, heat islands, care for the elderly and more – in other words, discussions about climate adaptation.
We have long been in the middle of the climate crisis. Even if we still have to do everything we can to prevent global warming from getting any worse, we will not be able to avoid research, human and financial commitment to climate adaptation, especially in our major cities. Even today, many people in Germany suffer from excessive air pollution, low availability of green infrastructure and heat islands on hot summer days.
In particular, the financing of the transformation of our energy supply, our transportation and our buildings must be correspondingly high if we do not want to further exacerbate the current situation. However, one aspect that is always neglected in such discussions is the aspect of justice. Fairness means that the same is treated equally and the unequal is treated unequally.
So if it has long been clear that countries in the global North are the main perpetrators of the climate crisis, but countries in the global South suffer the most from it, then this raises fundamental questions about global justice – the keyword being climate justice.
If it has long been clear that wealthy people have a much highercarbon footprint than poorer people, but that the latter are the least protected from the effects of the climate crisis due to increased environmental pollution, this raises fundamental questions about justice within our society – the keyword being environmental justice.
We must be aware that the increasingly severe effects of climate change and impacts such as air pollution, noise etc. affect people in densely populated residential areas such as Neukölln in Berlin differently than people in a detached house with a garden in Wannsee. If we stick with this example and compare the CO2If we compare the carbon footprint of the people in these two scenarios, it becomes clear that the greenhouse gas emissions of people with single-family homes in Wannsee are significantly higher than those of people living in the housing estate in Neukölln.
Studies by Lucas Chancel from the World Inequality Lab show that the bottom 50 percent of the population in European countries and the USA have already reducedCO2 emissions to a level that meets or almost meets the Paris criteria. This double injustice of being hit harder by the climate crisis as a non-polluter than people with a comparatively highcarbon footprint harbors potential for division and raises fundamental questions about the constitution of our society.
Are emissions from superyachts, sports cars, private jets, space tourism and gigantic estates still acceptable in the current climate? Can the costs of the climate crisis be passed on to society as a whole or should those who are considered to be the main cause of these developments pay for climate adaptation and the fight against global warming, for example through taxes?
These issues urgently need to be discussed and it is worth looking beyond the horizon. After all, our choice of means to date has neither reduced the prosperity gap in Germany, nor haveCO2 emissions fallen to an extent that would make compliance with the Paris Climate Agreement likely.
For this reason, this issue of UfU Information is dedicated to various aspects of justice, such as youth participation (because young people in particular will have to deal with the climate crisis in the future), environmental justice within cities and the causation ofCO2 emissions in relation to prosperity. Climate issues are always also social issues – time to answer them.
Jonas Rüffer
Editorial manager