Recently, Professor Jeff D. Colgan visited the SAIS Bologna Campus to speak about whether the 2015 Paris Climate Agreement influenced corporate behavior while also addressing some of the challenges and obstacles climate progress might face in the coming years. Second year MAIA student William Louis Hill was able to sit down and interview Professor Colgan on his thoughts for what lies ahead. This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.
BY CATHERINE STALLSMITH
As the amount of extreme weather events has increased over the years, more and more people have been displaced due to climate disasters. Some are able to return home after recovery efforts, but often, at great personal cost. As the globe warms and more natural disasters occur, more people will likely lose their homes and become displaced. Coastlines and islands around the world will be underwater, and climate migrants will need permanent relocation. The United Nations (UN) 1951 Convention for Refugees and 1967 Protocol defined a refugee as someone who "owing to well-founded fear of being persecuted for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion, is outside the country of their nationality and is unable or, owing to such fear, is unwilling to avail themself of the protection of that country." This current definition does not, however, account for people who are fleeing natural disasters.
Perceptions of climate change vary, and it can be controversial to some who don’t agree on its causes or who is to blame. Similarly, opinions on migration vary depending on who is migrating, why they are migrating, and where they are going. Climate refugees pose an interesting problem as their homes are forever lost, with no hope of return. If someone cannot return to their home because it is now underwater, where do they go? Will host countries begin to open their borders for climate refugees but not political ones? Will climate refugees be the “perfect” refugee because they had no control over their circumstances? Or will they be largely ignored as they do not fall under the UN’s definition? Will we literally run out of space for everyone on the planet? Will some people have to live on boats or engineered floating cities?
Regardless of the answers to these pressing questions, the world is simply not ready to handle a mass influx of climate migration. Climate change primarily affects the Global South and developing countries, and as a result developed countries will need to rethink their refugee ceilings and how they can expand their bureaucratic capabilities to accommodate an influx of refugees.
The international community should be prioritizing ways to save what is left of our planet and atmosphere in order to try to prevent more destruction while the effects of climate change are still reversible. The Conference of Parties (COP) should dedicate time to discussing climate migration, and what developed, resource-rich countries are willing to do to help. The United Nations should also hold a summit to discuss updating the definition of a refugee to include those who have fled climate disasters.
Migration is a contested subject, one that the UN spends a lot of time negotiating on. The Global Compact on Migration is a flexible tool that allows countries to pursue a collective purpose towards safe, orderly, and regular migration, agreeing on what it will look like in the future and what the current, pressing challenges are. At the moment, it is not legally binding due to member states being unable to form an agreement. The understanding reached by the Global Compact on Migration is a good place to start, but is ultimately not adequate to protect climate migrants, as their migration will not be regular or orderly. Receiving countries and countries of departure have different goals, and receiving countries are not willing to commit too many of their resources to this cause. Despite this, climate migration is inevitable. With the right resources, and the right mindset, it can be a safe and humane process.
Countries want to be in control of their futures when it comes to climate change. The stark reality, though, is that developed countries contribute far more to the climate crisis than developing countries. In return, they must expect to open their doors to refugees when these consequences have irreversible effects.
BY NINA DAVIS
In a report by journalist Russell Gold, the citizens of Sweetwater, Texas have witnessed an explosion of all three since 2017. Acres of dumped 200-foot-long wind turbine blades are the cause. Thousands of blades are delivered to the small town each year cut into three pieces equivalent to the length of a school bus. This ritualistic dumping has stacked these blades into piles 10 feet high covering more than thirty acres. This draws attention to hypocrisy within the renewable energy sector when they assert that green energy is good for the environment while it continues to lack sustainable circularity.
BY KAMERYN RICHARDSON
Despite publicly denouncing child labor, major cocoa corporations fall short of eliminating distributors engaging in this practice from their supply chains. In the absence of compulsory anti-child labor due diligence, progress on this front has proven stunningly slow. Pledges to eradicate the “worst forms of child labor” by 2005, solidified under the voluntarily-enforced Harkin-Engel Protocol, remain unhonored.
BY IMAN AWAD
Despite various U.S. policy measures to hold the Burmese military accountable, the ongoing escalation of violence suggests that there is still considerable progress to be made, particularly in the recognition of corporations that continue to operate in Burma. With the formal declaration of genocide, the U.S. now bears both a moral and legal obligation to take immediate and responsive action. Morally, it restores dignity to the Rohingya and other victims of the genocide by acknowledging their pain and trauma — and now it’s time for corporations to do the same.
BY MORGAN WILSMANN
AI models that power the likes of OpenAI’s ChatGPT use humans to tease out and label horrific content, like child sexual abuse, bestiality, murder, suicide, torture, self-harm, or incest, so the AI system may “learn” to filter out problematic data before the end user sees it. And, as with most “low-skilled” undesirable work, these responsibilities disproportionately fall upon the economically vulnerable in developing countries. Kenya, with its educated English-speaking workforce, has become a hub for outsourcing content moderation in this area.
BY SHEIDA HOOSHMANDI
This research examines the potential for distributed solar photovoltaics (PV) paired with lithium-ion battery energy storage systems (solar plus) to serve as resilient community-level microgrids that generate and store power locally to sustain critical electricity loads when the centralized grid is intentionally disabled for public safety.
BY ANNE-CHARLOTTE FROTTÉ
Today, Chile privatizes resources like water and minerals, and is a major supplier of lithium and copper, both of which are used for clean energy storage and transportation. Chile is now working to use their advantage in green hydrogen production to become one out of three of the world’s largest hydrogen exporters by 2040, and produce green hydrogen at the lowest cost by 2030.
BY AHAVA ZAREMBSKI
From her experience as the CEO of an energy impact innovation startup, Ahava Zarembski has come to understand several key challenges facing the ecosystem of impact startups. Current frameworks for initial funding make it difficult for impact innovations - designed to improve the ESG (Environmental, Social, or Governance) related challenges facing our world today - to receive the investment they require. In this piece she highlights both core problems and potential solutions to the difficulties facing impact innovations as they attempt to scale up their operations.
BY MIRABAI VENKATESH
The case of La Oroya, Peru provides insight into how International Investment Treaties (IITs) and their Investor-State Dispute Settlement (ISDS) processes enable foreign corporate interests to pressure governments to allow profit-driven violations of environmental and human rights in developing countries.
BY SHU FUKUYA
Until 2018, the Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF), led by the Tigre-based armed group known as the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF), ruled Ethiopia as the majority party, resulting in relative political stability. However, the appointment of Prime Minister Abiy in 2018 caused political reforms and a power shift, leading to conflict between the federal government and the TPLF. The resulting political instability has suddenly led to a slowdown in economic development and the eruption of a multifaceted humanitarian crisis. From being lauded as a developmental success just a few years prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, Ethiopia is now a leading example of sustainable development in crisis.
BY MEGAN H. DOHERTY
As climate change drives conflict across the world, women and girls face increased vulnerabilities from structural inequalities, debilitating cultural norms, economic insecurity and increased risks to gender-based violence, including conflict-related sexual violence, human trafficking, and child marriage. According to UN Women, when disasters strike, women are less likely to survive and more likely to be injured due to long standing inequalities that have created disparities in information, mobility, decision-making, and access to resources. As more data reveal their clear correlation, the amplified impacts of climate change and gender and the linkages between women’s empowerment and effective climate action must be addressed
BY LAYAN SHAABAN
Since 2014, Yemen has been embroiled in a three-dimensional dispute that weaves emerging rivalries into a multi-layered power struggle, making the conflict seem intractable. Its economy is shattered, institutions illegitimate, and its people indignant. Despite the fragmented Yemeni economy, there remains the opportunity for sustainable peace and the construction of an inclusive political system.
BY REESE O’BRIEN
To build a sustainable future within the field of international development, youth engagement is more critical than ever. The William & Mary Global Innovation Challenge (WMGIC) works to build a bridge between the undergraduate and professional spheres, nurturing the next generation of international development professionals, and highlighting the creativity and diverse perspectives of these young adults.
