Last month, the European parliament became the latest legislative body to declare a ‘climate emergency’, while the editors of the Oxford English Dictionary declared ‘climate emergency’ their word of the year for 2019 – two reflections of the momentum which has gathered around this concept over the past twelve months.
Against this background, we want to encourage a conversation about the role of democracy within a politics of climate emergency. It seems to us that any declaration of emergency in response to the climate crisis requires a position on democracy; indeed, that if such declarations prove to be more than symbolic gestures, they are likely to mark a fork in the road for our existing democratic systems. Beyond this point, the choice is either more democracy, or less.
Emergency powers
Movements and NGOs organising around the goal of securing climate emergency declarations would doubtless insist on their commitment to democratic values. Without an explicit call for more democracy, however, there is an implied endorsement of the current system, which not only has democratic deficits, but seems incapable of delivering accelerated climate action.
