The Distributive Effects of Environmental Politics: National and International Perspectives

Environmental problems like climate change, biodiversity loss, overfishing, or waste disposal can have significantly negative impacts on human wellbeing. Much research has been devoted to the problem-solving quality of environmental policy measures. Yet it is frequently disregarded that environmental politics can also have considerable (re)distributive effects on national and international levels.

Domestically, politics that are targeted exclusively at mitigating ecological problems are likely to reinforce differences in wealth. For instance, transport politics that are limited to reducing private fuel consumption by raising gas petrol prices may particularly lower the mobility of poorer segments of the population. Internationally, the distributive effects of environmental politics are particularly pronounced in North-South relations. Most recent environmental agreements contain clauses on technology transfer and financial support. But it remains contested whether this suffices to balance the unequal burdens that many agreements impose on developed and developing countries.