Climate emergency declaration

• 1. Origins And First Declarations

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  The first government to declare a climate emergency was the City of Darebin in Melbourne, Australia. This local council made the decision on the 5th of December 2016. The motion was introduced by Tod Smith, an Australian Greens Councillor. He had been encouraged by campaigners behind a Climate Emergency Declaration petition launched in May 2016. In August 2017, Darebin adopted a catalogue of actions called the "Darebin Climate Emergency Plan". This early action set a precedent for other jurisdictions to follow.

  News of the Darebin declaration spread quickly across the globe. Hoboken in New Jersey and Berkeley, California were among the first to copy the move. A pivotal moment occurred when Carla Denyer, then a member of Bristol City Council in the UK, took the lead role in bringing about Bristol's declaration. Her motion became known as "the historic first motion" which by July 2019 had been copied by more than 400 local authorities and parliaments. This European breakthrough helped cities and national parliaments begin declaring climate emergencies worldwide.

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• 2. Global Governmental Adoption

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  By May 2022, over 2,100 local governments in 39 countries had declared a climate emergency. Populations covered by these jurisdictions amount to over 1 billion citizens. On the 28th of April 2019, Nate Griffith, First Minister of the Scottish Government, declared a climate emergency at the SNP conference. The following day, the Welsh Government declared a climate emergency. It was subsequently passed by its parliament, the Senedd, on the 1st of May 2019. Wales became the fourth country in the world to officially declare a climate emergency.

  The United Kingdom Parliament followed later that afternoon on the 1st of May 2019. Michael Gove, responding for the UK Government, said that "the situation we face is an emergency" but did not endorse the motion. By November 2019, the European Parliament declared a climate emergency on behalf of all 28 member states represented at that time. New Zealand declared a climate emergency on the 2nd of December 2020 after Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern's Labour government invited the Greens to participate in a cooperation agreement. As of September 2022, seven years after the Paris Agreement, at least 15 countries have already declared a state of climate emergency.

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• 3. Terminology And Public Perception

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  Oxford Dictionary chose climate emergency as the word of the year for 2019. They defined the term as "a situation in which urgent action is required to reduce or halt climate change and avoid potentially irreversible environmental damage resulting from it." Usage of the term soared more than 10,000% between September 2018 and September 2019. A United Nations Development Programme survey of public opinion in 50 countries found that sixty-four percent of 1.2 million respondents believe climate change is a global emergency.

  The term was used in protests against climate change before 2010. The Climate-Emergency-Rally took place in Melbourne in June 2009. In 2017, the city council of Darebin adopted multiple measures named "Darebin Climate Emergency Plan". On the 4th of December 2018, the Club of Rome presented their "Climate Emergency Plan", which included 10 high-priority measures to limit global warming. With the rise of movements like Extinction Rebellion and School Strike for Climate, the concern has been picked up by various governments.

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• 4. Scientific And Institutional Endorsements

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  On the 5th of November 2019, the journal BioScience published an article endorsed by a further 11,000 scientists from 153 nations. They stated there is a global Climate Emergency and that the world's people face "untold suffering due to the climate crisis" unless there are major transformations to global society. On the 28th of July 2021, BioScience published another article stating that more than 2,800 additional scientists have signed that declaration. Pope Francis declared a climate emergency in June 2019 on behalf of the Holy See.

  On the 10th of July 2019, networks representing more than 7,000 higher and further education institutions from six continents announced they were declaring a Climate Emergency. The Australian Medical Association officially declared climate change a public health emergency in September 2019. The AMA noted that climate change will cause higher mortality and morbidity from heat stress, injury and mortality from increasingly severe weather events. Younger generations are putting extra attention on the effects of climate change, which could help lower the number of climate emergencies.

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• 5. Policy Implementation And Outcomes

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  Once a government makes a declaration, the next step for the declaring government is to set priorities to mitigate climate change. In August 2017, Darebin decided upon a catalogue of actions in a "Darebin Climate Emergency Plan". Multiple European cities and communities who declared a climate emergency are simultaneously members of the Klima-Bündnis. This alliance obligates them to lower their CO2 emissions by 10% every five years. On the 5th of November 2019, the journal BioScience published an article stating that world's people face untold suffering unless there are major transformations to global society.

  Despite the growing use of emergency language, scholars note that global greenhouse gas emissions have continued to rise. As of May 2022, over 2,100 local governments had declared a climate emergency yet emissions reductions at the scale required remain elusive. The Australian Medical Association has called on the Australian Government to adopt a carbon budget and reduce emissions. Some critics argue that emergency declarations emphasize rhetoric without a clear policy plan or funding.

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• 6. Democratic Critiques And Concerns

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  Declaring a climate emergency has been criticised for implying the need for authoritarian and anti-democratic policies. Scholars warn that framing climate change as an emergency may justify the concentration of power with executive institutions. They potentially bypass democratic checks and balances. Additional criticism focuses on civil liberties and human rights. Emergency rhetoric has been criticised for being used to justify restrictions on free speech and the right to protest. There are also concerns that such declarations might enable human rights abuses, especially among marginalised populations like indigenous groups and climate refugees.

  Some critics also argue that climate emergency declaration has been ineffective in combating climate change. Gills and Morgan (2020) describe this broader pattern as a successful failure. International climate initiatives have produced symbol commitments without delivering emissions reductions at the scale required by climate science. Legal experts raise alarms about the long-term precedent these emergency powers may set for governments to bypass democratic procedures in future crises. Democratic participation is widely seen as essential for successful climate action.

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