Abbey Abramson

  Corruption supercharges the climate crisis. From risk to reality: how corruption magnifies climate harm Picture a climate project as a chain. Each link—prioritization, design, budgeting, procurement, construction, maintenance, and monitoring—can add strength or introduce failure. According to the IPCC, effective governance is crucial at each stage. For example, prioritization and design require inclusive decision-making to ensure resilience against specific local climate risks (IPCC AR6). Similarly, transparent budgeting and procurement processes are crucial in preventing the misallocation of funds, which can compromise project integrity (IPCC AR6). Agenda-setting and prioritization If protection decisions are made by political loyalty rather than exposure and need, flood defenses follow influence rather than risk. Communities in the storm’s path wait as ribbon-cuttings happen elsewhere. The UNDP’s early work on climate and corruption highlighted these governance faults in adapta...

  The Role of Fossil Fuels and Carbon Emissions Fossil fuels are major contributors to climate change Fossil fuels—coal, oil, and natural gas —have been the foundation of industrial development and economic growth for over two centuries. However, their extraction, associated processes, and combustion of the extracted and refined energy are the major contributors to climate change, accounting for most greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions . Recent data show that global energy consumption is heavily reliant on fossil fuels. Approximately 80% of the world's energy consumption comes from coal , oil , and natural gas (International Energy Agency [IEA], 2022). Specifically, coal accounts for about 27%, oil represents roughly 31%, and natural gas is around 22% of the total energy mix (BP Statistical Review of World Energy, 2023). This section discusses the history of dependence on fossil fuels, the environmental impacts of carbon emissions, the role of the industry sector, and the complex so...