The Winding Road to Paris

The author contends that 'corporate capture' of the UN and EU has prioritised profit over climate action, leading to ineffective market-based policies and rising emissions. The text advocates for a binding international agreement based on scientific evidence and historical responsibility, rather than political compromise. It calls for the abandonment of coal—which accounted for 43% of CO2 emissions from fuel combustion in 2012—and the adoption of 'energy sovereignty' through decentralized, democratically controlled renewable energy. The author argues that the EU should lead by replacing market mechanisms like the EU-Emissions Trading Scheme with regulation, taxation, and subsidies to achieve necessary emission cuts.

• The author asserts that the UN and national governments have been subject to 'corporate capture', where lobbyists prioritise business as usual and profit over the protection of people and ecosystems.
• The document argues that the EU's reliance on market-based solutions, specifically the EU-Emissions Trading Scheme, has been a failure and allows polluters to avoid necessary emission cuts.
• Coal is identified as the primary source of carbon dioxide emissions; in 2012, it produced 43% of CO2 emissions from fuel combustion, and its total abandonment could reduce greenhouse gas emissions by nearly 25%.
• The text highlights extreme global inequality in energy consumption, noting that per capita use in the USA and Canada is roughly twice that of Europe or Japan, ten times that of China, 20 times that of India, and 50 times that of the poorest sub-Saharan African countries.
• The author proposes a transition to 'energy sovereignty', defined as a system where energy is a basic human right, managed through direct democratic control, and based on small-scale, decentralized, low-impact technologies.

APA

Munic, J. (2014). The Winding Road to Paris. Green European Journal. https://www.greeneuropeanjournal.eu/the-winding-road-to-paris/

Chicago

Munic, Jagoda. The Winding Road to Paris. Green European Journal, 2014. https://www.greeneuropeanjournal.eu/the-winding-road-to-paris/.

Wikipedia

{{cite press release |last1=Munic |first1=Jagoda |title=The Winding Road to Paris |publisher=Green European Journal |date=1 November 2014 |url=https://www.greeneuropeanjournal.eu/the-winding-road-to-paris/ |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@misc{munic2014winding, author = {Munic, Jagoda}, title = {{The Winding Road to Paris}}, publisher = {Green European Journal}, year = {2014}, month = nov, url = {https://www.greeneuropeanjournal.eu/the-winding-road-to-paris/}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }