Climate change needs to be a political battlefront
Climate change, in most countries, still hasn’t found its way to the centre of political discourse. It lingers on the sidelines, even though it is a threat that affects every policy decision we make today. We need to start treating climate change as the political issue that it truly is. At its core, climate change is about power, privilege and how they are distributed across countries and generations. It determines who gets to flourish and who suffers. Wealthier nations have spent centuries burning fossil fuels, growing their economies at the expense of poorer and more vulnerable countries that are left to deal with the consequences of global warming such as floods, famines and wildfires. Climate change has become a battleground where the interests of different nations, corporations, and civil society organisations (CSOs) collide. Political leaders tend to prioritise policies that make “economic sense,” even if those policies come at a heavy cost to the environment. Businesses put up greenwashing campaigns to appear eco-friendly while continuing to pump out harmful emissions. The result? A dangerous charade where everyone pretends to care about the planet, but nothing really changes as long as profits keep flowing. Environment CSOs often find themselves up against political and corporate interests that prioritise profits over the planet. For many governments, climate change is seen as a threat to national security. It destabilises agriculture, forces migration, and fuels conflict over dwindling resources. Yet, the political and economic elites who have the power to make real changes often resist the very reforms that could help curb the crisis. Moreover, political leaders frequently play a double game. On the one hand, they speak publicly about the need for climate action. Behind closed doors, they undermine global climate agreements to protect their national economic interests. Take a look at the manifestos of political parties in major democracies, and you’ll notice an unsettling pattern—climate change is rarely given the attention it deserves. When it does appear, it’s often diluted by vague commitments. This issue isn’t confined to wealthier countries. Kenya, like many nations in the Global South, is facing a climate crisis that intersects with poverty, governance and economic insecurity. Yet its political landscape tends to put short-term economic growth ahead of long-term sustainability. This needs to change. The systems that drive our economies; capitalism, political power, and corporate influence are what led us into this crisis, and those same systems now stand in the way of the solutions. To truly address climate change, we need to confront these systems head-on, challenge the political elites who benefit from them, and demand a transformation that puts justice, equity, and sustainability at the centre. The time has come to make climate change a central issue in politics. We need to hold our leaders accountable, challenge the greenwashing tactics of corporations, and push for an overhaul of the systems that brought us to the brink of disaster.