Democratic support for measures to combat climate change has been increasing throughout Europe across the political spectrum, among liberals, social democrats and confessional parties alike.¹ Acknowledging heightened environmental concerns among voters, most European governments have set up generous subsidies for windmills, solar panels and electric cars in order to stimulate decarbonization.² Yet, consumers, voters and politicians rarely notice that these ‘green solutions’ are extremely resource-intensive, as they rely on the mining of metals and minerals such as copper, cobalt and lithium.³ This mining largely takes place outside of Europe, in formerly colonized localities in the Global South and thereby risks entrenching what Sovacool calls a ‘decarbonization divide’, as low-carbon technologies ‘depend on dirty flows of mineral extraction which only perpetuate neocolonial dependence, economic inequality, and degradation of the environment’.⁴ Effectively, the ways in which low-carbon transitions in Europe are implicated in mining pollution and waste streams in Africa, Asia and Latin America are externalized and invisibilized in the democratic process, which focuses primarily on national emissions targets and decarbonization goals. This article will examine the ‘democratic deficit’ of global climate change politics – in terms of representation, accountability and responsibility – as European ‘elected representatives are not institutionally obliged to answer to any community other than their electorates or their nation for the ecological consequences of their decisions, even when it can be clearly foreseen that other communities, now and in the future, will be seriously harmed’.⁵ Instead of this national focus, European governments should adopt a global perspective that seeks to minimize transnational unevenness by emphasizing accountability and equity. Calls for ‘climate justice’, involving attempts to redress global environmental inequalities, are fundamentally moral and democratic issues. Striving for climate justice is particularly urgent in our planetary and entangled Anthropocene times, involving a common but differentiated responsibility in tackling climate change.⁶

中文翻译：

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脱碳、民主和气候正义：非洲矿业与欧洲政治之间的联系

在整个欧洲的政治光谱中，自由主义者、社会民主党和忏悔党等对应对气候变化措施的民主支持一直在增加。¹承认选民对环境问题的高度关注，大多数欧洲政府已为风车、太阳能电池板和电动汽车提供了慷慨的补贴，以促进脱碳。²然而，消费者、选民和政界人士很少注意到这些“绿色解决方案”资源极为密集，因为它们依赖于铜、钴和锂等金属和矿物的开采。³这种采矿主要发生在欧洲以外，在全球南方以前的殖民地区，因此有可能加深 Sovacool 所谓的“脱碳鸿沟”，因为低碳技术“依赖于肮脏的矿产开采流程，只会使新殖民主义的依赖、经济不平等和环境退化”。⁴实际上，欧洲的低碳转型与非洲、亚洲和拉丁美洲的采矿污染和废物流有关的方式在民主进程中被外部化和隐蔽，民主进程主要关注国家排放目标和脱碳目标。This article will examine the 'democratic deficit' of global climate change politics – in terms of representation, accountability and responsibility – as European 'elected representatives are not institutionally obliged to answer to any community other than their electorates or their nation for the ecological consequences of他们的决定，即使可以清楚地预见到现在和将来其他社区将受到严重伤害”。⁵欧洲各国政府不应以国家为重点，而应采用全球视角，通过强调问责制和公平性来尽量减少跨国不平衡。呼吁“气候正义”，包括试图纠正全球环境不平等，从根本上说是道德和民主问题。在我们这个行星和纠缠不清的人类世时代，争取气候正义尤为紧迫，涉及应对气候变化的共同但有区别的责任。⁶