Climate change as a global political issue

Abstract

The battle against climate change has placed decarbonised capitalism on the economic, political and social agenda. But the shift towards a regime of accumulation compatible with measures to mitigate climate change raises major issues regarding prosperity and power, on a human and political scale never previously entertained. The paper places climate change in the context of the dynamics of the system which caused that change, namely capitalism. The ecological crisis is one manifestation of the crisis gripping the present regime of accumulation, which has reached a financialised, globalised stage. This being the case, any attempt to halt climate change, far from being an environmental issue, must be seen as a problem for the development model of both North and South. © 2012 Inderscience Enterprises Ltd.