Toward an Emissions and Modern Slavery Impact Accounting Model

[NNadir]

There's an interesting commentary in the current issue of Environmental Science and Technology in the "Viewpoint" section, this one: Toward an Emissions and Modern Slavery Impact Accounting Model, Joy Murray, Camille J. Mora, and Arunima Malik Environmental Science & Technology 2022 56 (16), 11103-11106.

It seems as if it may be open sourced - anyone can read it, but a few excerpts are in order:

Inequality, modern slavery, greenhouse gas emissions, and climate change are embroidered together in complex feedback loops (1) (Figure 1). Untangling these complex relationships is fundamental to making progress on many United Nations sustainable development goals (SDGs) working to address inequality and enable a more equitable society. In this Viewpoint, we suggest that greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and modern slavery are both underpinned by, and a result of, inequality and together have a profound effect on climate change...

Figure 1:



The caption:

Figure 1. Complex feedback loops between inequality, modern slavery, greenhouse gas emissions, and climate change (inner circle). The greater the black arrows, the stronger the relationship between the factors. Model based on Wiedmann, Lenzen, Keysser, and Steinberger (2) and the Raworth model (3) of Doughnut Economics with the overshoots and undershoots crossing the environmental and social ceilings.

No, it's not a relic of the 19th century, or even the 20th:

...Modern slavery is a significant global issue and by no means a problem of the past with the International Labour Organisation (ILO) reporting that in 2016, 40.3 million people were victims of modern slavery. (4) Modern slavery is composed of various human rights abuses and violations, (5) which are acknowledged in SDG 8 addressing decent work and economic growth. Many modern businesses and multinationals benefit indirectly from modern slavery along the supply chain, as the products of their labor flow into legitimate supply chain markets, (6) making profit for the seller at every point of exchange. Often, today’s victims of slavery work in sectors that are large GHG emissions sources. (7,8) The generation of cheap goods through such modern slavery in turn feeds increased consumption, which generates more GHG, ultimately affecting climate change. Coupled with dangerous working and poor living conditions, greater vulnerability and susceptibility to extreme weather events, exacerbated through climate change, modern slaves face increased and compounding risk arising from unsustainable consumption, stalling progress towards SDG 5, 8, and 10 on gender equality, decent work and economic growth, and reduced inequality, respectively.

In 2019, the richest 1% of the adult population were responsible for 16.8% of global GHG emissions, measured as a carbon footprint (i.e., including emissions occurring though consumption via the supply chain), compared to the poorest 50% who were responsible for just 12% of global GHG emissions. (9)...

Further:

...Despite this chain, research untangling the complex relationship between inequality, modern slavery, greenhouse gas emissions, and climate change–what we call the modern slavery-climate change nexus–has only just begun. (1,5,7,13) Often research misses this complexity, focusing instead on the modern slavery-environment nexus which is understandable given the prevalence of modern slavery in the supply chain of industries including fishing, (14) brick making, mining/quarrying, manufacturing, (12) forestry, (5) agriculture, renewable energies, and wildlife trafficking. (8,15) Because GHG emissions and modern slavery result from inequality and have a profound effect on climate change, we advocate moving toward a fairer society by (1) highlighting the value of a multi-region input–output (MRIO) model that integrates both modern slavery and greenhouse gas emissions data cross regionally to quantify and untangle the interlinkages between the two and how they impact across supply chains, (2) demonstrating the practical implications of such a model, and (3) working toward integrated international agreements that traverse the modern slavery-climate change nexus...

I downloaded some of the references, regrettably some are behind firewalls, as this topic is often on my mind.

Don't worry, be happy. We're "green."