Yet two particularly robust soft constraints remain. They can be shown to be most significant for climate mitigation and less relevant for pandemic and climate adaptation policies. We call them “geopolitical constraints” and “proximity constraints”. The latter divide into spatial and temporal proximity constraints. We argue that states might, indeed, succeed in addressing geopolitical constraints on effective climate action. But temporal proximity constraint remains a robust constraint on long-term global climate policies. This partly explains why climate mitigation policies have been less than successful.
The chapter shows that the more a policy requires strong international cooperation and strong transgenerational cooperation for the benefit of future generations, the harder it is to address the relevant constraints. We argue that overcoming temporal proximity constraints requires primarily changes in institutional design, both at domestic and international levels, rather than changes in human psychology.
[ editora ]
[ livro completo ]
© Como citar este artigo:
Araujo, M. de and Meyer, L.H. (2022) "Climate change and pandemics: Feasibility constraints on mitigation and adaptation". In E. Schulev-Steindl et al. (eds) Climate Change, Responsibility and Liability. Baden-Baden: Nomos (volume 1), pp. 41–74
Esta pesquisa conta com o apoio financeiro da FAPERJ (Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado do Rio de Janeiro) e do CNPq (Conselho Nacional de Pesquisa).
