Structural impediments to sustainable development in Australia and its Asia-Pacific region

Abstract

In its efforts to administer a collective global response towards combating climate change and limiting global warming, the United Nations, at its 2015 Climate Change Conference, succeeded in committing member nations to the Paris Agreement. Through the Agreement, the United Nations exemplified its dedication to supporting sustainable development. Accordingly, the primary objective of this chapter is to investigate structural impediments that prevent Australia and the Asia-Pacific region from achieving their Paris Agreement targets and consolidating sustainable development. While neoliberal globalisation has nurtured ecological damage and widespread poverty and wealth inequality in a systematic manner, this chapter argues that the accumulation and persistence of these structural deficiencies portend severe implications against the attainment of sustainability targets. The chapter introduces an assessment approach suggesting the stage of economic development, the extent of social equity and the political orientation of each country to distinguish its vulnerability and exposure to these structural impediments. It further addresses difficulties that governments, businesses and civil societies face with a focus on solving them. Lastly, it anticipates a paradigm shift away from the GDP growth-based, fossil fuel-driven industrial type of economic development towards a more inclusive and equitable model comprising eco-efficient low-carbon enterprises and economies. The chapter concludes that only the equitable, more inclusive and democratic developmental regimes are capable of consolidating sustainable development.