Investigating On How the Political Economy of An Environmental Crisis Impacts the

Pursuit of Attaining Sustainability

Introduction

In the world we are living today, economic activities of production and consumption are

becoming key aspects of major economies globally. While these activities increase, one of the

key factors that increase concurrently is energy consumption which has resulted in a significant

environmental crisis which is climate change. One of the key aspects of climate change has been

global warming and it has become a significant threat to the ecosystem including animals,

humans and plants. This is due to aspects such as increasing global temperatures every year,

melting glaciers, rising sea levels and also abnormal drought levels globally. When addressing

energy consumption, one of the key sources of energy is fossil fuels including coal, crude oil and

natural gas. This is because they account for almost 75% of energy consumption. Ghasemian, et

al., (2020) reported that in 2020, the global consumption of the three key fossil fuels was at

33.6% crude oil, 27.2% coal and 24% natural gas. From these statistics, it is clear that fossil fuels

are key aspects of energy consumption today. It has been established that these fuels are some of

the key contributors of CO₂ in the environment and hence making them some of the key

contributors to climate change today through global warming.

International bodies that focus on climate change such as the Intergovernmental Panel on

Climate Change have stated that one of the key challenges that is facing the world is

environmental degradation (Alper et al., 2020). They have attributed this degradation to aspects

such as an increasing world population, speedy globalization of production activities and the

increased consumption of fossil fuels. Notably, these activities have led to an increased emission

of CO₂ in the atmosphere over the years as seen in figure 1. Below

Source: Statista

Due to the impact of CO₂ in the atmosphere, the different governments across the global

north have called for alternative energy sources that are aimed at ensuring sustainability while

still ensuring the maximum production is achieved. One of these energy sources that has been

actively been scrutinized is the use of renewable energy sources. Ideally, the consumption of

these energy sources has been gradually accepted in society from a significantly 18.0Terrawatt

hours (TWh) in 1965 to an encouraging 2480.4 TWh in 2018 (Zhang and Liu 2022). Such

consumption is one which has been key towards ensuring that the global scene is experiencing

sustainability while also reducing the rates of emission in the environment.

change crisis on the macroeconomic indicators including aspects such as economic growth, fossil

fuel consumption, employment and trade openness Shaqsi, et al., (2020). However, limited

studies have addressed the political nature of the crisis and how sustainability are related to each

other. There is need to address sustainability from the perspective of political activities such as

corruption, law and order, democracy and government stability. In doing this, it becomes

possible to address different analytical deficiencies in the topic of sustainability and resolving the

climate change crisis.

Environmental sustainability and political institutions

When addressing the political aspects of sustainability, political institutions play a key

role in it. This is because these institutions act as the channels through which the concept of

sustainability is addressed and communicated to society. Uzar, (2020) states that the relationship

between aspects of sustainability such as renewable energy and institutional quality can be

established through non-monetary incentives. For instance, governments invest significant

resources in establishing infrastructure and putting in place strategic measures that are aimed at

promoting sustainability in the environment. In doing this, different forms of politics emerge

which may have an impact on how society views the strategies.

When addressing the political nature of environmental sustainability, the government

ideologies and or quality of the institutions is paramount to the manner in which sustainability is

achieved. For instance, Agheli and Taghvaee, (2022) state that when government institutions are

corrupt, and there is a considerable level of political instability, environmental policies are

loosened. This is true because, when there are significant weaknesses in the political system,

there are many loopholes that can be exploited which will lead to the aims of sustainability being
impacted. Also, when faced by such corruption and instability, it becomes extremely challenging

for politicians to respond to the people’s preferences which is a key indicator of stable

environmental policies. Hu, et al., (2021) emphasized that when the levels of instability and

corruption in a country are high, it becomes easier for major corporations operating under

traditional energy sources to lobby officials to reduce the strictness of energy sources thus

impacting the whole process. Also, Zhang, et al., (2024) contributed to the issue of corruption

and environmental sustainability where they argued that it would reduce productive investments

and hence increase the levels of emission in the environment.

The second political institution that influences environmental sustainability is democracy.

Over the recent years, researchers have been turning their attention on the impact of democracy

on environmental sustainability. Wang, et al., (2021) concluded that the continuous presence of

information in the public has been crucial in informing the public of different aspects of

environmental crises such as climate change and hence ensuring that they are aware of the

different environmental issues. Also, due to the exposure of the public on the different issues

affecting them, it becomes easier for the public to pressure their governments on these issues and

hence introducing change. One key aspect of democracy is the ability to vote in and vote out

leaders something that is not present in autocratic societies. In democratic societies, issues

related to environmental crisis and justice are very sensitive and hence leaders are obligated to

respond to them. When the public observes that their leaders are not attentive to these issues,

they elect leaders that will be reactive to environmental sustainability. Therefore, there is a

significant amount of power in elections and enhancing environmental conservation.

The quality of bureaucrats in a society is another key political aspect that has the power to

impact the achievement of sustainability in the midst of a crisis. First, bureaucratic institutions
have the ability of influencing the execution of key environmental policies. According to

Engkus, (2021), the quality of bureaucratic institutions plays a key role in the process of

planning, implementation and supervision of the different environment policies. Moreover,

Rahman et al., (2020) argues that these institutions can be influential in blocking proposed

policies that might hinder the process of achieving sustainability.

When addressing political institutions and sustainability, considering the concept of law

and order is crucial. This because, with proper conducting of the rule of law, there is the

possibility of the society avoiding aspects of uncertainty. When the society experiences

significant levels of uncertainty, it becomes impossible for potential investors to invest in the

country. This leads the country to miss out on important aspects of new energy resources such as

renewable because potential investors are skeptical of investing in the country. As a result, there

is limited pursuit of sustainability in the society.

Research aims and objectives

The research aims to analyse different aspects of the political economy and how they

impact the responses to the different environmental crises. Since the political economy has a

wide scope, this research will focus on three aspects which will form the basis of this research.

These include: structures of power, economic interests such as corporations and big companies;

and international cooperation.

Research questions

1. How power structures and decision making within the political realm influence the

response of governments to environmental crises?

policy decisions?

3. Do the different aspects of international cooperation influence policies regarding

environmental conservation and sustainability?

The study of the aspects of sustainability in the environment has been one which has been

of key concern in different studies across the divide. Tiwari, et al., (2022) analysed the impact of

sustainability through different economic indicators such as economic growth, and

unemployment. Tiwari et al., (2022) studied the impact of renewable energy on income in 18

different emerging markets from 1994-2003. They identified that there was a significant

relationship between renewable energy and income which implied that an increase in the use of

renewable energy led to increased income for the citizens of the countries. (Zeren and Akkuş,

(2020) analysed the impact key determinants of renewable energy in a country where they

identified that the key determinants of renewable energy are GDP and CO₂. such determinants

played a key role in impacting a government to invest in sustainable energy source. As

Smirnova, et al., (2021) explained, with a higher GDP, there are higher chances for a government

to invest in sustainable energy sources. Kharazishvili et al., (2020) conducted a comparative

study on the developed world and developing world regarding aspects of sustainability. The

findings indicated that the developed world had a higher rate of CO₂ concentrations while also

having a higher GDP. As a result, they had a higher acceptance rate of sustainable energy

sources. Therefore, this study complimented Zeren and Akkuş (2020) study on the key

determinants of sustainable energy sources.

A study by Iqbal, et al., (2023) on the relationship between sustainable energy and

economic growth, trade openness and CO₂ in BRICS countries showed that was a positive

correlation between sustainable energy and growth of the economy. Therefore, it can be argued

that an increase in sustainable energy would lead to increased growth in a country. Oluoch, et al.,

(2021) conducted a study on the key determinants of renewable energy in 25 countries on the
Sub-Saharan Africa where they established that economic growth and traditional energy had a

positive effect in the use of renewable energy as a form of sustainability. On the other hand, CO₂

had a negative effect. Adedoyin et al., (2021) established that income had a key impact on the

adoption of sustainable activities in the solving of environmental Crisis and that it impacted the

manner in which governments reacted to sustainability.

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