We’ve stood on the frontlines of the climate movement, inside global summits where fossil fuel lobbyists outnumber Indigenous delegates, in communities navigating climate disruption, and on the streets demanding justice. Over time, one truth has become harder to ignore: climate change is not just an environmental crisis, it’s a symptom of a deeper economic pathology.

The engine behind it all is an economic model built for endless growth, powered by extraction and globalized trade. It has delivered rising emissions, deepening inequality, and a system in which multinational corporations can sue governments simply for trying to protect people or ecosystems, thanks to trade agreements laced with investor protections.

Advertisement

Advertisement

One shadowy clause of international law, innocuously named Investor-State Dispute Settlement (ISDS), lets foreign corporations bypass national courts and sue governments in secretive tribunals, if public-interest laws threaten their profits. The results are both dangerous and absurd: Germany sued for regulating coal pollution; Australia targeted for tobacco controls; Central American countries penalized for protecting their water.

It’s a system that rewards polluters and punishes protectors. And it’s baked into the very fabric of the global economy, ensuring that any meaningful environmental regulation can be legally challenged by the corporations it threatens.

Read more: How to Manage Your Climate........

© Time