Living in a polycrisis world
AS I celebrate another year on Earth, let me share the abridged version of my keynote speech during the CEU Leadership Summit 2023 at the Centro Escolar University-Manila.
The world isn’t in crisis. It is in crises.
We have entered a “new world disorder.” We can’t afford to focus on the big issue at hand because there are so many interrelated issues at play.
We have emerged from a global pandemic only to find ourselves immersed in a looming financial crisis, a climate crisis, an energy war partly caused by the Russia-Ukraine conflict and longstanding inequalities blooming into global geopolitical crises. The world is most concerned about inflation and energy costs.
The biggest concern, an economic crisis, is sharpening an economic divide and raising questions around the role of business.
We are seeing a movement away from shareholder value at all costs, to a greater understanding of the human and environmental toll that capitalism takes. Another shift is a growing tension between global and local.
Most people across the world believe that globalization is good for them. But while we appreciate how it helps create cross-cultural understanding and increase the accessibility of goods, nationalism prevails at a government level and defenses are raised. Nationalism and populism remain powerful forces, attractive to people who live in societies that are under pressure.
Climate change has become an existential threat. Ten climaterelated disasters in 2022 top billions of dollars in damages globally. There is rampant debate about how to address this. Some of us are changing how we make purchasing decisions according to their environmental impact. Others, particularly Generation Z, are putting the responsibility squarely on the shoulders of government, systems and corporations.
These crises will not go away any time soon. The world order that has lasted since World War 2 is splintering: dominant institutions are failing, populations conflict and opposition groups are sowing discord.
We are living in a world of polycrisis, which Adam Tooze, author and professor at Columbia University in New York, described as “not just a situation where we face multiple crises … [but one] where the whole is even more dangerous than the sum of the parts.”
Yet, amid this backdrop of disorder, there are bright spots.
People do have common values, interests and goals. We’re generally on the same page about the climate: the majority feel that we are heading for environmental disaster unless we change our habits. Corporations, governments and individuals play a role in solving these crises and helping people to cope. But lack of trust is a barrier.
Environmental emergencies
Humans are already feeling the impact of flooding, biodiversity loss and weather extremes related to climate change. Coming soon: increasing disputes over who controls dwindling resources like water, the need for more adaptation, decarbonization and new measures to combat this existential threat to planetary life.
Different countries are in different stages when it comes to decarbonization and setting policies to limit environmental impact, even within the same geographic region. Yet governments and citizens are increasingly taking measures to protect natural resources and prevent further environmental damage.
Overpopulation and over-development are existential threats to humans who currently use 150 percent of the Earth’s renewable ecological resources each year. With a population forecasted to grow to 10 billion by 2100, the situation will get worse without further intervention.
Concern about the climate emergency is under pressure. There is, however, a vast difference across regions between who is concerned about climate change and who is not. The countries where people are talking about it least may be the countries that are doing the most about it.
One of the challenges we face in mobilizing climate change action is that it is never people’s number one priority. There is always something that they find more pressing: Covid-19 recently, the cost of living crisis today.
There is, though, a growing understanding of a collective need for environmental justice. Globally, there is also debate about development: should developing countries be allowed to grow in the same ways that developed countries previously did?
Above all, people want collaborative leadership from governments, corporations and nonprofit organizations on this issue. There is a great deal of innovation in sustainability, such as emissions reductions, lower resource usage and greater reuse of resources.
Unless we change our habits, we are heading for environmental disaster.
The author is the executive director of the Young Environmental Forum and a nonresident fellow of Stratbase ADR Institute (ludwig.federigan@gmail.com). He completed his climate change and development course at the University of East Anglia (UK) and an executive program on sustainability leadership at Yale University (USA).