ABSTRACT
NO: Because it requires a system-level response that states are best placed to facilitate
The majority of states have not implemented the policies, regulations or fiscal measures necessary to successfully reduce their emissions of greenhouse gases in line with the ambition laid out in a series of international climate treaties. Yet their failure to do so does not mean that states are not key actors in the global response to climate change. Ironically, their collective failure to respond with sufficient urgency and scope has made their involvement even more pivotal. The changes to modern living which are required are of such a nature and scale that state actors are best positioned to intervene directly at a system-level. State actors must exercise their authority to ensure the implementation of policies, regulations and incentives that would internalise negative externalities to reflect the true costs of altering the shared resource of the global atmosphere.
