SWS - Study

3.2 Distributional conflicts and unequal power relations

Image by CJ from Pixabay

Those who want to transform existing conditions must always reckon with opposing forces: Those who have an interest in maintaining the status quo often offer active or passive resistance ¬– even if they often cannot properly assess whether the reforms are disadvantageous for them or not. In addition, there is the loss aversion which is typical to human beings, i.e. the tendency to feel a supposed or actual loss more strongly and to value it more highly than a possible advantage that would, viewed objectively, more than compensate for this loss.43


At the heart of the matter are often tangible distributional conflicts that affect different dimensions. On the one hand, reforms change the (unequal) distribution vertically (simplified between "top and bottom", "rich and poor" or "North and South"). But also horizontally, there are winners and losers in the individual groups, if structural changes have different effects on different economic sectors or urban and rural regions. A horizontal distribution conflict that is particularly important in the context of the socio-ecological transformation are the so-called "stranded assets", when assets (e.g. fossil raw materials, production facilities or patents) lose significant value as a result of the changes or can no longer be used at all in the future.


As already mentioned, only about 1,000 gigatonnes of CO2 equivalent may be emitted worldwide in order to reach the 2°C target (cf. Fig. 3). Thus, the global distribution of this budget is one of the central vertical distribution conflicts, especially against the background of the massive current inequality. In a global comparison, Europeans, for example, are currently almost all among the small percentage of beneficiaries of the unjust status quo, even if the inequality of distribution within Europe is also considerable: currently, only 5% of European households reach the global emissions target of 2.5 tonnes of CO2 equivalent per capita which is required for the 1.5°C target (in 2030) (and only a few more reach the 3.3 tonne target for a limit of 2°C). Average European households currently emit between 7 and 15 tonnes per capita, and the 10% with the highest emissions account for more than half of total European household emissions44. This is a reminder that successful climate and social policies are closely interlinked and that a mere "social cushioning of climate protection measures" falls short in many cases.


Also analyses that see population growth as the primary cause of global poverty and a threat to livelihoods fall short, especially in view of the dramatically unequal distribution of global per capita emissions between wealthy and poor people. Nevertheless, the SDGs will be difficult to achieve without responsible population policies. The faster the population grows in poorer regions, the greater the challenge of enabling economic development without further local and global environmental pressures. Therefore, developing and emerging countries must be supported in pursuing a responsible population policy that enables family planning without coercive measures and interventions in the reproductive self-determination of families, which is holistically oriented towards the requirements and needs of present and future generations.


Also at the horizontal level there is considerable potential for conflict. The politically forced coal phase-out, for example, can place a considerable social and economic burden on entire regions. Similarly, the costs and profits from pricing in environmental damage can be distributed more or less fairly, or the restructuring of the automotive industry can lead to a loss of jobs that can hardly be fully compensated for all those affected. The acceptance of the necessary reforms is also lower when there is too little discernible political effort to recognise the different interests at an early stage and in an appropriate manner, to distribute opportunities and losses in fair weighing and distribution processes and to mitigate social consequences.


This can also lead to people not being able to adequately assess the gains associated with the change due to fears of loss, and at the same time to them ignoring how great risks inaction can entail (e.g. extreme weather events or social upheavals). As an example, we can point to the great potential that companies in the plant and mechanical engineering sector could realise through consistent climate protection. However, they are far from exhausting this potential45 – not to mention the aspects of a "good life" that cannot be expressed in monetary terms, such as the enjoyment of clean air, undestroyed nature and biodiversity, or a public space with less noise, more traffic safety and more space for civic development. In addition, "less" working time can lead to "more" living time that can be shaped independently, which opens up space for family and care work, voluntary work and artistic development. Precisely here it becomes clear how important it is to negotiate and distribute the associated opportunities and burdens fairly between the social partners, government agencies and other stakeholders.

"The acceptance of the necessary reforms is also lower when there is too little discernible political effort to recognise the different interests at an early stage and in an appropriate manner, to distribute opportunities and losses in fair weighing and distribution processes and to mitigate social consequences."

Of course, there are also actors who profit from the status quo in a special way and who defend their own interests without regard to the common good and the necessity of transformation. Here, an important role is played by stranded assets, which must be considered from the point of view of the social obligation of property: Those who, for example, owe their prosperity to the possession of fossil resources or the use of technologies that are no longer up to date cannot simply reject restrictions in their previous business model as "cold expropriation", but have a special responsibility to participate constructively in reforms that promote the common good. Those who want to shape the transformation must also address the questions of power and responsibility associated with it, in order to successfully identify and overcome barriers and counterforces.46


It is not uncommon that people and institutions support change in principle, but that they are at the same time linked to the status quo and its main beneficiaries through economic relationships, dependencies or interdependencies that are not always easy to understand. Therefore, they strengthen their position through their actions (consciously or unconsciously).  In this way, the already mentioned "complicity" (cf. chapter 1) can arise. All those who criticise the existing power relations and blockades should thus always reflect self-critically on their own contribution to the stabilization of this power.

Comments (4)

21.11.2021 / 18:43 Uhr

J. Minx

Was halten Sie von der Idee eines Ständigen Vermittlungsausschusses für Klimapolitik?

23.02.2022 / 15:30 Uhr (> answer to J. Minx)

BR

Nun ist Ihr Kommentar ja schon einige Zeit her und auch in der Bundespolitik hat sich etwas getan und wenn ich Ihre Frage richtig verstanden habe, hat sich etwas in Ihrem Sinne bewegt. Ich vermute Sie meinen einen "ständigen Ausschuss" zu dem Thema? Den Vermittlungsausschuss zwischen Bundestag und -rat gibt es ja ohnehin, er hat sich auch schon einige Male mit Gesetzesvorhaben beschäftigt, die ich in Teilen der Klimapolitik zurechnen würde (bspw. zum Gesetz zur Umsetzung des Klimaschutzprogramms 2030 im Steuerrecht und zum Geologiedatengesetz). Tatsächlich wurde in der laufenden Legislaturperiode erstmals der Ausschuss für Klimaschutz und Energie geschaffen, zuvor waren Klimathemen (und sind weiterhin) auf unterschiedliche Ausschüsse verteilt. Daran und an Ihre Frage angeschlossen, könnte ich mir einen Ausschuss für Klimapolitik vorstellen, der sich mit all den verschiedenen Ausschüssen und Verantwortlichen für Klimafragen beschäftigt und ggf. koordiniert, also mit den "verschiedenen Klima-Ausschüssen", den verschiedenen Ministerien mit Aufgaben, die die Klimapolitik betreffen können (alle?) und mit dem Vermittlungsausschuss, der sich in Zukunft vermutlich immer häufiger auch mit Gesetzesvorhaben beschäftigen muss, die die Klimapolitik angehen. Nur gäbe bei einem solchen "Überausschuss" natürlich die Frage nach seiner Legitimation und Kompetenzen...

25.02.2022 / 12:48 Uhr (> answer to BR)

J. Minx

Sie haben Recht, die entscheidende Frage wäre die nach den Kompetzenzen eines derartigen Ausschusses - und zwar nach den fachlichen Kompetzenzen der Mitglieder und nach ihren Entscheidungskompetenzen. Ich wünsche mir manchmal, es gäbe ein Expertengremium, das nicht nur berät, sondern auch Entscheidungsbefugnisse hat, vielleicht indem es die Eckpunkte für ein "gutes Leben" festlegt, an denen sich die Politik dann orientieren müsste, also vor allem Obergrenzen für Emissionen oder Mindestmengen an Recycling-Quoten; wenn das ein auf größtmögliche Zustimmung fixierter Parteisoldat entscheiden muss, sehe ich schwarz für unseren Planeten Erde...

25.02.2022 / 20:27 Uhr

Endres

Machtverhältnisse ein wenig abstrakt

Die DAX Konzerne in Deutschland sind im wesentlichen Aktiengesellschaften, die auch in der Pandemie ungebrochen hohe Dividendenausschüttungen vorgenommen habe. Nach wie vor hat der Aufsichtsratsvorsitzende (normalerweise von der Kaptitalseite ein Doppelstimmrecht) d.h. er kann im Konfliktfall einseitig die Interessen der Kapitalgeber durchsetzen. Wir bräuchten ganz andere Unternehmensformen: Viel mehr Genossenschaften, Unternehmen die den Beschäftigten gehören, oder die zumindest soviele Aktien besitzen, dass sie eine Sperrminorität haben damit aggressive Hedgefonds wie bei einigen Großunternehmen nicht durchaus gesunde Unternehmen ruinieren können. Klar müsste die extrem ungerechte Vermögensverteilung angesprochen und auch verändert werden. Vor vielen Jahren gab es aus und in den Kirchen die Forderung nach einem einmaligen Lastenausgleich. Leider steht dazu in dem Papier nichts