The link between corruption and climate change may not be completely obvious at first, but the report, which features contributions from 50 leading experts from 20 countries, makes two key points.
“The urgent need to respond to climate change needs to be enhanced by transparency and accountability. Oversight must be built into all climate-related initiatives from the start,” Huguette Labelle, chair of Transparency International, said in a press release.
The report expands the traditional definition of corruption to include things such as unfair lobbying practices, manipulation of data, or other ways to achieve short-term gain by either resisting the global efforts to fight climate change or taking advantage of them.
Although the 400-page report is often a rather dry and technical affair, it does present concrete examples that clearly demonstrate how precarious this new, uncharted territory of global governance really is.
One such example is the section about forestry governance. Forests play a fundamental role in regulating carbon dioxide, but logging is also an extremely lucrative business that has led to increased deforestation, especially in tropical areas. Timber worth $10 billion–23 billion is illegally felled or produced from suspicious origins each year, the report said.
Corruption drives every aspect of the process, from the ruling elite handing out exploitation rights to their cronies, to poorly paid forestry enforcement officers who are dependent on bribes from the companies they are supposed to monitor.
Behind it all are the international timber companies. With the growing focus on climate change, these companies launch PR campaigns not only to improve their image, but also to solicit money from international development funds or get endorsements from NGOs. The report mentions the example of a Swiss-German conglomerate that touts sustainability and builds schools and roads in Africa while buying timber from Liberia, which is associated with human rights abuses, illegal logging, and corruption.
Fraudulent and Unfair Lobbying
Another example is the section about climate law lobbying in the EU and United States, which clearly shows how uneven the playing field is between the traditional energy lobby and energy-intensive industries on the one side and the green energy sector and environmentalists on the other. In terms of both financial resources, representation at various stakeholder meetings, and impact, the former has a huge advantage.
But lobbyists also resort to downright fraudulent means, as in a case where a coal-industry lobbying firm feigned endorsement from grass-roots groups such as the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. The lobbyists sent forged letters to three lawmakers on a House committee before an important vote, and two of the three voted against legislation that would have negatively impacted the coal industry.
Other subjects covered in the report include the risks of trading greenhouse gas emissions on “carbon markets,” and problems in actually measuring emissions and agreeing on standards—both of which are areas with potential for short-term gains for individual countries at the expense of long-term goals. There is also the problem of the “green resource curse,” where the revenue from natural resources, such as rare metals needed for new renewable energy technologies, are not distributed in a way that benefits the citizens of the countries where they are found.
More “traditional” forms of corruption that play a part in the climate puzzle are also touched upon. North Africa, for instance, has great potential for renewable energy. Studies indicate that covering only 1 percent of the Sahara Desert with concentrated solar power installations would provide all the power needed for the whole of Europe. Yet it is hard to attract capital, since investors are reluctant to get involved due to the economic uncertainties that come from poor quality bureaucratic proceedings and corruption.
Not surprisingly, one of the report’s main conclusions and recommendations is that the world’s governments need to collaborate better and step up their efforts of monitoring, coordination, and anti-corruption enforcement. It also said governments need to find new and better ways of involving ordinary citizens, since “Climate change has entered the public consciousness to stay.”
