Speaking as an NGO focused on development policy, we are unfortunately forced to concede that, despite all the successes of program work on the ground, we are losing the battle against global poverty and injustice and that environmental conflicts are on the rise. This realization prompted Fastenopfer to open up to new strategic approaches that are intended to counter systemic crises with systemic approaches.

The IPCC’s 1.5-degree report in 2018 reaffirmed to us that any global warming above 1.5 degrees Celsius will have fatal consequences. It also confirmed that the temperature target of 1.5-2 degrees set out in the Paris Agreement will not suffice. And then there is the real problem, which is this: Despite the binding nature of the Paris Agreement, we are not on track to meet the target of 2 degrees, let alone that of 1.5: “There are no signs of a reversal in this trend, which is driving long-term climate change, sea level rises, ocean acidification, and more extreme weather. According to the World Meteorological Organization, the concentration of CO2 rose from 403.3 ppm in 2016 to 405.5 last year.” For a long time now, scientists have warned against exceeding 350 ppm. The Earth’s temperature has already increased by one degree. Even before the end of this century, nature and therefore the conditions in which humankind must live will undergo dramatic change as CO2 emissions increase. Weather and extreme temperatures will make large parts of the Earth uninhabitable and conflicts and migration will significantly increase. It is already clear that the Global South will be hit much harder by these effects than the North.

As well as pumping masses of CO2 into the atmosphere, resources are also still being used up despite everyone’s commitments to efficiency and circular economies. The raw materials strategies being pursued by the U.S., the EU, China, and Switzerland, are combining with the economic growth targets of the producing countries to escalate the situation. Social and violent conflicts are particularly apparent in relation to the overexploitation of natural resources and are claiming as their victims the local population and forces of civil society that are fighting against environmental and human rights violations. The number of people affected and under threat is on the rise, as is their resistance – and as is state and para-state violence. In Brazil, for example, burst dams have robbed hundreds of thousands of people of their land, access to water and health in recent years. The overexploitation of the Amazon region will continue under the new government.

Other areas such as agriculture or the global financial system are contributing similar factors amplifying systemic crises. In many cases, international companies, including more than a handful in Switzerland, are often playing an important role in this respect.

System-relevant approaches to change

We at Fastenopfer have been increasingly focusing on systemic approaches to finding solutions since 2017, adopting three priorities for our work on a transversal basis. 1. Transformation: Relevant at all levels at Fastenopfer, this work combines the development of approaches that support profound change from the bottom up, such as political commitment (e.g. corporate responsibility) or personal lifestyle changes (interior transition). 2. International programs that trigger transformative processes are a help and connect us with the relevant partner organizations on a political level so that we can then work together internationally too (e.g. within the framework of the UN negotiations in Geneva on the Binding Treaty on Business and Human Rights). 3. The promotion of systemic alternatives such as aligning the economy with the common good, agroecology, renewable energy systems, and gender equality.

We believe that the following approaches are particularly relevant to the system and can help to overcome the current paradigm:

1) Acknowledging the presence of systemic causes of crises such as climate change. These include unequal use or pollution of the atmosphere as a common good as well as prosperity built on fossil fuels.

2) The global trends have similarities and the crises intensify one another. As early as at the 1992 UN Earth Summit on sustainable development in Rio de Janeiro, attendees were already calling for politicians to focus on the interdependence of ecological, economic, and social problems.

3) Holistic solutions are needed. Many of today’s so-called solutions are flawed and have rebound effects. These include biofuels, energy-saving cars that are making people switch from trains to cars, and mega dams in the Amazon to generate renewable energy. Agenda 2030 can play an important role here with its approach that links social and environmental issues. Their belief that all countries are developing countries and that a profound transformation is therefore needed in both the South and the North is also an expedient one – even if Agenda 2030 remains stuck in the industrial growth model.

4) Sufficiency: The resource-driven pressure on the Earth as a system needs to be eased significantly to prevent other ecological systems from collapsing too. Up until now, we have succeeded in producing every franc of GDP with greater environmental efficiency by means of eco-economic decoupling. Although energy efficiency in Europe increased by 50% between 1990 and 2015, the economic growth generated in this period has already negated these successes. Compulsory consumption limits would present a decisive factor. “The combination of increased environmental efficiency and changed consumer behavior would allow for what is known as double decoupling. This method aims to make it possible for all 10 billion people expected to be on Earth at the midpoint of the century to live a good life within the planet’s borders.”

5) Voluntary codes of conduct and corporate social responsibility are completely inadequate in the face of the global crises. Furthermore, treaties and laws relating to sustainability and human rights are increasingly being undermined by agreements to protect trade and investment. Approaches like those offered by the corporate responsibility initiative are what are required: making the protection of resources obligatory.

6) Finally, existing alternatives and alternative approaches must be given the necessary focus in social discourse. There is no “one-size-fits-all” model and this is not a question of socialism versus capitalism, but rather perhaps one of a different type of capitalism, or of a combination of concepts, as the internationally renowned activist Pablo Solón sees it. In a project supported by Fastenopfer, Solón compared systemic alternatives to global capitalism: Buen vivir, degrowth, the commons movement, ecofeminism, the Rights of Mother Earth, and deglobalization. “We are experiencing a systemic crisis that can only be tackled in a satisfactory way if diverse perspectives are brought together and further developed. The answer to the systemic crises calls for alternatives to capitalism, productivism, extractivism, plutocracy, patriarchy, and anthropocentrism.”

With this “work in progress,” Fastenopfer is contributing to the social discourse on transformation, armed not least with the hope that the transformation we face will be seen as something positive, as an opportunity. The current situation, which has not yet seen any horror climate scenarios at all, is already intolerable on a moral level. Nevertheless, pockets of change are emerging in both the South and the North. Prioritizing them is an opportunity that we should not miss before climatic and social tipping points close the door to human coexistence and perhaps even human survival.