The recent first round of the election shows strong backing for Flávio Bolsonaro, who is the son of former right-wing president Jair Bolsonaro. A similar trend can be seen all over Latin America, a land once considered most fertile for revolutions. In France, President Macron has elected 7 Prime Ministers in this term, due to strong opposition from the far-right party National Rally of Maria Le Pen. In Germany, for the first time since WWII, a far-right party will run a province. The weakening of the Labour Govt in England is consolidated by far-right parties. Trump in America has emboldened far-right governors in states. With the recent rise of far-right parties to power on three continents, environmental politics is in retreat. The rise of the far-right itself shows that Climate is not a voter issue. Due to the high cost of living, inflation, high government debt, and unemployment, climate is no longer an issue for voters. Even though Global Warming is the main cause behind these issues.
With the rise of the right-wing government to power, environmental issues will be further neglected. As seen in many nations, right-wing governments in power implement anti-environment policies. Allowing offshore drilling and mining of natural resources on native land, allowing unrestricted pollution by industries, and taking back environmental regulations. Also, we have seen continuous attacks on institutions that safeguard the environment. In America, Donald Trump has directly attacked EPA, which is the major environmental regulator of US and also, an important institute globally. Scrapping of Biden Inflation Bill, means cutting of billions of dollars of funding for solar and wind. Also, stepping back from Paris Climate Change Agreement in US is a major blow to the global climate movement.
Climate crises recognize no border. No one single country can stop the climate crises. We need a global movement to fight climate crises. But, when Climate Ignorant Govt comes to power it will become harder to build up a global coalition. Also, with leader who don’t believe that nation are historically climate polluters, the efforts for climate justice is also thrashed.
With more far-right-wing Govt coming in power in upcoming few months. It is not just the national efforts but also international efforts that will be weakened by their rise. The COP Conference, which many suggests is now being largely controlled by polluters, will become more weaker or even obsolete. What is absolutely certain is the very apparent failure to limit global temp under 1.5 C(which has already been breached). The Global green house emission will certainly will increase with no sign of stopping.
