After a summer of unprecedented bushfires, many of us have directly or indirectly felt the very real effects of climate change. With the consequences of the collective failure of successive governments to address climate change more evident, it begs the question, what are the social consequences? Will climate change affect everyone equally?
Climate change disproportionately affects both poorer countries and poorer groups within countries and exacerbates inequalities. Focusing on within-country inequalities, a 2008 paper by the United Nations found that climate change worsens disadvantaged groups within a country as they are: more exposed to climate hazards; more susceptible to damage caused by climate hazards; less able to cope with and recover from damage.
While these within-country inequalities are more striking in poorer developing countries, inequalities are also exacerbated in those that are industrialised and wealthy. A striking example of this is the recovery effort in New Orleans following Hurricane Katrina in 2005 which proceeded much quicker in areas inhabited by wealthier, white populations than those that were largely poor and black, despite these areas suffering the worst damage.
Although Australia enjoys a more egalitarian society than the United States, a 2019 report by the Climate Council found that without curtailing CO2 emissions and making investments in resilience and adaptation, climate change poses systemic economic risks and financial instability.
With little increase in social security and welfare such as Newstart, due to apparent budgetary constraints, the economic consequences of climate change will only increase the upward trend of social and economic inequality within Australia. Insurance premiums will become increasingly unaffordable for lower-income families living in areas exposed to current and emerging hazards such as flooding, bushfires and coastal inundation, which are more exposed to the effects of climate change. They have far less ability to move or make other necessary adjustments to their living circumstances.
Rather than addressing the realities of the climate crisis, our political leaders are evading any real discussion of climate change, deceptively claiming that the action needed will adversely affect the economy. The truth is, a low-carbon economy provides a major opportunity to unlock thousands of clean energy jobs both low- and high-skilled, attract foreign investment and secure business confidence. The urgency to address climate change offers an opportunity to transform our economy and society to become more equal, kind and compassionate; to invest in public housing that is sustainable and energy efficient, free public transport and social security.
The government can improve the lives of people immediately by applying these principles to large public housing redevelopments such as the Waterloo estate. As one in four Australian households live in private rental or public housing, and do not have the rights to make capital improvements, the government should embrace the opportunity to make environmentally sustainable investments with smart urban design in social housing estate renewals. These investments will decrease the financial burden of people on low incomes and reduce carbon emissions.
By mandating landlords and developers to create carbon neutral homes and to increase energy and water efficiency standards including solar and battery storage in existing housing, people on low incomes and renters will reduce energy consumption and will therefore have lower utility bills and a greater ability to cope in extreme weather. If we transferred the $5 billion per year in subsidies going directly to the fossil fuel industry and the $4.4 billion to make Adani commercially viable, into clean energy projects, public infrastructure and social security, the economic benefits wouldoverturn the status quo.
As put by author and activist Naomi Klein, “if treated as a true planetary emergency” climate change could “become a galvanising force for humanity, leaving us all not just safer from extreme weather, but with societies that are safer and fairer in all kinds of other ways as well”.
