Table Of ContentWorld-Systems Evolution and Global Futures
Tessaleno Campos Devezas
João Carlos Correia Leitão
Yuri Yegorov
Dmitry Chistilin Editors
Global
Challenges
of Climate
Change, Vol.2
Risk Assessment, Political and Social
Dimension of the Green Energy
Transition
World-Systems Evolution and Global
Futures
SeriesEditors
ChristopherChase-Dunn,UniversityofCalifornia,Riverside,CA,USA
BarryK.Gills,PoliticalandEconomicStudies,UniversityofHelsinki,Helsinki,
Finland
LeonidE.Grinin ,NationalResearchUniversityHigherSchoolofEconomics,
Moscow,Russia
AndreyV.Korotayev ,NationalResearchUniversityHigherSchoolof
Economics,Moscow,Russia
Thisseriesseekstopromoteunderstandingoflarge-scaleandlong-termprocessesof
social change, in particular the many facets and implications of globalization. It
criticallyexplores thefactorsthataffect thehistoricalformationand currentevolu-
tion of social systems, on both theregional and global level. Processes and factors
that are examined include economies, technologies, geopolitics, institutions,
conflicts, demographic trends, climate change, global culture, social movements,
global inequalities, etc. Building on world-systems analysis, the series addresses
topicssuchasglobalizationfromhistoricalandcomparativeperspectives,trendsin
globalinequalities,core-peripheryrelationsandtheriseandfallofhegemoniccore
states,transnationalinstitutions,andthelong-termenergytransition.Thisambitious
interdisciplinary and international series presents cutting-edge research by social
scientistswhostudywholehumansystemsandisrelevantforallreadersinterestedin
systems approaches to the emerging world society, especially historians, political
scientists,economists,sociologists,geographersandanthropologists.
ThisbookseriesisindexedinScopus.
Alltitlesinthisseriesarepeer-reviewed.
(cid:129)
Tessaleno Campos Devezas
(cid:129) (cid:129)
João Carlos Correia Leitão Yuri Yegorov
Dmitry Chistilin
Editors
Global Challenges
of Climate Change, Vol.2
Risk Assessment, Political and Social
Dimension of the Green Energy
Transition
Editors
TessalenoCamposDevezas JoãoCarlosCorreiaLeitão
InstitutoUniversitário UniversityofBeiraInterior
UniversidadeAtlântica Covilhã,Portugal
Barcarena,Portugal
YuriYegorov DmitryChistilin
UniversityofVienna SimonKuznetsInstituteforSelfOrganization
Vienna,Austria andDevelopment
Kyiv,Ukraine
ISSN2522-0985 ISSN2522-0993 (electronic)
World-SystemsEvolutionandGlobalFutures
ISBN978-3-031-16476-7 ISBN978-3-031-16477-4 (eBook)
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-16477-4
#TheEditor(s)(ifapplicable)andTheAuthor(s),underexclusivelicensetoSpringerNatureSwitzerland
AG2023
Thisworkissubjecttocopyright.AllrightsaresolelyandexclusivelylicensedbythePublisher,whether
thewholeorpartofthematerialisconcerned,specificallytherightsoftranslation,reprinting,reuseof
illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilms or in any other physical way, and
transmission or information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by
similarordissimilarmethodologynowknownorhereafterdeveloped.
Theuseofgeneraldescriptivenames,registerednames,trademarks,servicemarks,etc.inthispublication
doesnotimply,evenintheabsenceofaspecificstatement,thatsuchnamesareexemptfromtherelevant
protectivelawsandregulationsandthereforefreeforgeneraluse.
The publisher, the authors, and the editorsare safeto assume that the adviceand informationin this
bookarebelievedtobetrueandaccurateatthedateofpublication.Neitherthepublishernortheauthorsor
theeditorsgiveawarranty,expressedorimplied,withrespecttothematerialcontainedhereinorforany
errorsoromissionsthatmayhavebeenmade.Thepublisherremainsneutralwithregardtojurisdictional
claimsinpublishedmapsandinstitutionalaffiliations.
ThisSpringerimprintispublishedbytheregisteredcompanySpringerNatureSwitzerlandAG
Theregisteredcompanyaddressis:Gewerbestrasse11,6330Cham,Switzerland
Acknowledgment
Co-editor João Leitão appreciates the support of the Project PRIMA 2020, 3599-
PPCDT, “Environment and Global Change: Improving MEDiterranean irrigation
system and water supply for smallholder farmers by providing efficient, low-cost
andnature-basedtechnologiesandpractices”.PRIMA/0008/2020.
v
Contents
TheRootCausesofOurEnvironmentalCrisesWeIgnore. . . . . . . . . . . 1
DavidA.Hindin
RisksfromTransitiontoLow-CarbonEnergiesandGlobalWarming
forFSUCountries. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
YuriYegorov
TheGeneralSituationwithClimateChangeintheWorldandRisk
AssessmentfortheGlobalEconomy. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
OleksiyPlotnikov
WhytheRamsey–Koopmans–CassModelUnderlyingNoticeable
IntegratedAssessmentModelsIsMisleadinginEconomicandClimate
Projections. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
AlexanderRyzhenkov
TheEcologicalConsequencesoftheRisingEconomicPowerofthe
BRICSEconomiesinGlobalCapitalism:AnEco-socialist
Perspective. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83
PritamSingh
TheTrinomialNature–Nurture–CultureandsomeSocialJustice
AspectsRegardingAdaptationtoClimateChange. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103
GabrielaMarianaIonescu
ExaminingtheRelationshipBetweenEco-efficiencyandEnergy
Poverty:AStochasticFrontierModelsApproach. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117
VictorMoutinho,JoãoLeitão,PedroMendonçaSilva,andJoão
Serrasqueiro
RevisitingtheNexusBetweenRenewableandNon-renewable
Energy,CO Emissions,andEconomicGrowth:AnEmpirical
2
ApplicationtoAsianandAfricanEconomies. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137
VictorMoutinho,CarolinaNeves,andJoãoLeitão
ImpactofEU’sCBAMonEAEUCountries:TheCaseofRussia. . . . . . 157
SamvelLazaryanandSergeiSudakov
vviiii
viii Contents
OptimalEnvironmentalPolicyforNPSPollutionUnderCournot
Duopoly. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 173
AkioMatsumoto,FerencSzidarovszky,andKeikoNakayama
ChallengesandRisksofthe“Green”TransformationoftheCountries
ParticipatingintheIntegrationBlocks:TheCaseoftheEurasian
EconomicUnion. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 199
AndreyPanteleev
GreenFinanceinEurasianUnion:ShouldWeExpectaCommon
Solution?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 223
SergeySementsovandAnnaGolysheva
ProspectsforLow-CarbonIndustrialPolicy:TheCaseofRussia. . . . . . 251
OlgaKudryavtsevaandAlexanderKurdin
GreenFiscalPolicyandDevelopment:ReconcilingClimate
andStructuralChange. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 265
JoaoPauloBraga,ErinHayde,andJuliaTorracca
The Root Causes of Our Environmental
Crises We Ignore
David A. Hindin
1 Introduction
Readers of this book should be well-aware that we are facing interconnected
planetary crises that are eroding the earth’s life support systems. Human actions—
mostlybypeopleintheGlobalNorth—arecausingmultiplecrises,suchasrapidloss
in biodiversity, the filling of oceans with plastics, the conversion of forests into
monoculturesforagriculture,airandwaterpollution,climatechange,andinjustice.
Despite knowing about these crises for decades and dozens of international
meetingstoaddressthem,ourcollectivefailuretoactmeansthecriseshavegotten
worse.Fromanevolutionarystandpoint,humansareanextraordinaryspecies,with
incredible capacities for intergenerational learning and local cooperation. These
capacities have enabled us to create amazing technologies, including altering the
earthtosupportabout7.9billionpeople.Wehavebecomethedominantspecieson
theplanet,andthesurvivalorextinctionofotherspeciesdependsonouractions.Yet
we are on the brink of destroying the planet’s life support systems that we depend
on.Why?
Myansweriswearenotmakingprogressbecauseweignoretherootcauses,and
thus our “solutions” are not effective. Instead, we hope that technological
innovationswillcompletelyoffsetendlesslyincreasingconsumptionandpopulation
growth on a finite planet, despite substantial evidence to the contrary. I used to
believe in this myth myself. In 1986, I began my career at the United States
EnvironmentalProtectionAgencyasanenforcementattorneytocompelcompanies
andmunicipalitiestoinstallrequiredpollutioncontroltreatment.Ihopedthatifwe
could get everyone to use the required treatment technology, we would go a long
way toward solving our environmental problems. I soon realized that pollution
discharge standards would need to continuously become stricter over time in
D.A.Hindin(*)
Fairfax,VA,USA
#TheAuthor(s),underexclusivelicensetoSpringerNatureSwitzerlandAG2023 1
T.C.Devezasetal.(eds.),GlobalChallengesofClimateChange,Vol.2,
World-SystemsEvolutionandGlobalFutures,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-16477-4_1
2 D.A.Hindin
ROOT CAUSES
1. Limits of Evolutionary Strengthsand Psychological Biases.
2. Human Population
3. Anthropocentrism.
4.Myththattechnologicalinnovationallowsendless growthonafinite
planet and that increasingconsumption increaseshuman happiness.
Fig.1 Thefourrootcausesofourenvironmentalcrisisweoftenignore
response to continuing population and economic growth. Even if we invented the
technology to continuously tighten discharge standards, implementing tighter
standards would face huge legal, practical, and political hurdles. And there is the
addedproblem thatpollutiontreatmentprocessesconsumeenergyandmaterialsto
buildandoperatethem.
I see four root causes of our environmental crises. In line with this second
volume, which focuses on the political and social dimensions associated with the
so-called Green Transition, this chapter focuses on human behavior. While human
ingenuity to create innovative technologies is amazing, if we do not address the
behavioralcausesandsolutions,theenvironmentalcriseswecreatedwillcontinueto
getworse.ThefourrootcausesaresummarizedinFig.1andarefullyexplainedin
thischapter.Ofcourse,thereareinteractions andfeedbackloopsamongtheseroot
causeswhicharenotshownbythesimplelinearlistinginFig.1.
2 Limits of Evolutionary Strengths and Psychological Biases
The first root cause is that we have created a world that no longer aligns with our
evolutionary strengths. For more than 99% of our 200,000 to 300,000 years as a
species, our abilities were well aligned to perceive, understand, and react to the
dangerswefacedinthatworld—dangersthatwereimmediateandlocal.
AsFig.2summarizes,weevolvedinaworldinwhichthedangersthatthreatened
our survival were immediate, easy to perceive with our own senses, and impacted
justourlocalcommunity.Incontrast,mostoftoday’sgreatestdangersdevelopover
decades,requirespecialmonitoringandanalysistounderstand,andimpactnotjust
ourlocalcommunityorregionbutthewholeplanet.
For example, our ancestors did not have to gather and analyze large data sets
using scientific theories to understand that the pesticide DDT, lead in gasoline, or
burningcoalwerelong-termthreatstotheecosystem.Further,ourancestorsdidnot
needtounderstandthattheshort-termandlocalbenefitsfromcuttingdownforeststo
grow avocados or raise cattle to sell to people in distant lands would be long-term
disastersfortheplanetanditsbiodiversity.
Whetherthrubiologicalorculturalevolutionmechanisms,ourcognitivepercep-
tual processes make recognizing planetary environmental problems especially
