Vol. 5, No. 6, June 2024

E-ISSN: 2723-6692

P-ISSN: 2723-6595

http://jiss.publikasiindonesia.id/

Journal of Indonesian Social Sciences, Vol. 5, No. 6, June 2024 1488

Failure of International Agreements in Confronting

Environmental Crimes: A Case Study of the Climate Crisis in

Vanuatu

Misliharira Shaumi Putri, Ni Made Martini Puteri

Universitas Indonesia, Indonesia

Email: mislihar[email protected], tinduk.NM@gmail.com

Correspondence: misliharira@gmail.com

KEYWORDS

ABSTRACT

Environmental Crimes;

Climate Crisis; International

Agreements; Vanuatu

The fossil fuel non-proliferation agreement comes in response to the

escalating climate crisis threatening Vanuatu, which was raised by the

President of Vanuatu at the 77th General Assembly of the United Nations.

This article analyzes the failure of international agreements as an effort to

prevent environmental crimes that cause the global climate crisis,

especially those felt by Vanuatu, as well as the extent to which international

agreements can play a role in addressing these problems, as well as

safeguarding the well-being of people in affected countries. The use of

fossil fuels, which is still the primary energy in various countries, has

become a focus in the context of environmental crimes because of its

negative impact on the environment, including the climate crisis. Although

these efforts are considered a step in the face of environmental crimes,

their implementation is still limited. From a criminological perspective, the

restriction of action through the law is a common approach to tackling

crime. However, the issue of environmental crimes and international

agreements shows the complexity involving many stakeholders. Taking

into account the urgency of addressing the climate crisis and its impact on

human rights, countries are expected to prioritize people's well-being.

Through literature analysis, this article concludes that international

treaties will not be effective in tackling environmental crimes without the

support of domestic laws and policies, as well as the commitment of state

leaders.

Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-SA 4.0)

1. Introduction

Issues related to environmental crime are quite interesting to continue to raise, considering

that the attention given to this form of environmental crime is not proportional to the impact it causes.

The impact of environmental crimes is very wide, where actions in one country can indirectly have

an impact on other countries. This shows the complexity of the legal regulations governing

environmental crimes, where often domestic laws do not adequately consider these cross-border

impacts. One example is the excessive use and production of fossil fuels by a country which can cause

harm to the environment, not only in its country but also in other countries. As a result, the inability

of countries to effectively reduce the use of fossil fuels has increased the risk of a climate crisis, which

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is one of the most troubling global environmental issues today. Vanuatu is one example of a country

that is very vulnerable to this crisis.

Vanuatu is an archipelago consisting of 13 islands and 60 small islands forming the letter Y.

According to a 2014 report by the United Nations University's Institute for Environment and Human

Security (UNU-EHS), Vanuatu is the most vulnerable country to possible natural disasters in the

world. Apart from the fact that some of the islands in the country have active volcanoes, Vanuatu has

other factors that make the country prone to disasters and their impacts. Reporting from Deutsche

Welle, a German international media, several possible causes of this arise because; (1) Vanuatu lies

on the boundary of a highly active tectonic plate and is part of the 'Ring of Fire', (2) the lack of ability

of the people and government of Vanuatu to survive and remedy the consequences of natural

disasters, (3) vulnerability to low sanitation levels and adequate access to waste disposal, and (4) the

adaptation of development and its own society is lacking, where Vanuatu politicians themselves often

fail to overcome or deliberately avoid social and government failures when dealing with disaster

prevention and relief. The impact received by Vanuatu is quite serious. However, despite the

country's efforts to reduce the use of fossil fuels, other countries that indirectly contribute to the

climate crisis still do not have adequate legal regulations to reduce the use of these fuels. In fact, some

countries do not fully pay attention to the impact of the use of this fuel because most of the primary

energy of the world's countries is still dominated by fossil fuels, and some of them actually depend on

the production of these fuels.

Feeling the need for more decisive action, Vanuatu's President, Nikenike Vurobaravu,

expressed these concerns by calling for the signing of the first global agreement to reduce or even

stop the use of fossil fuels, as well as urging other countries to join the fossil fuel non-proliferation

agreement. His efforts paid off when the President of Vanuatu won a historic vote at the 77th General

Assembly of the United Nations (UN) held on September 23, 2022. This action leads to calls for the

world's highest court to uphold the obligations of countries to address the climate crisis, with

consequences if violated. This agreement is urgent for Vanuatu, especially given the serious impact

they are experiencing due to the climate crisis (2022).

At the General Assembly Session, the President of Vanuatu stated that the impact of climate

change and the environment is not only felt by Vanuatu, but also includes human rights violations

that have caused many casualties due to environmental damage. As quoted by The Guardian (2022),

The President of Vanuatu explained that the fossil fuel non-proliferation agreement contains an

agreement to "gradually reduce coal, oil and gas production within the agreed climate limit of 1.5°C

and develop a long-term plan to support workers, communities and countries that depend on fossil

fuels so as to create security and healthy livelihoods". Although the agreement has received

international support, including from students and environmental activists, its implementation and

level of compliance remain a major question, especially in legal aspects related to environmental

crimes. From a criminological perspective, environmental crime is a complex issue that is difficult to

address, because it involves a variety of factors that cross legal, political, and economic boundaries.

Although it is not a conventional subject in criminology studies, environmental crime is one of

the most widely discussed forms of crime. This is because as time goes by, criminological attention is

increasingly focused on non-human crimes. This attention is marked by the emergence of the

discipline of green criminology which studies environmental crimes ranging from corporate criminal

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acts to individual actions that can result in damage to the environment. Environmental crime cases

are an interesting topic to analyze, although finding the root cause and solution takes time and effort,

especially for cases that involve many countries and have a wide global impact. This article analyzes

the failure of international agreements as an effort to prevent environmental crimes that cause the

global climate crisis, especially those felt by Vanuatu, as well as the extent to which international

agreements can play a role in addressing these issues, as well as safeguarding the well-being of people

in affected countries.

In analyzing environmental problems and countries' compliance with international

agreements, a cross-disciplinary approach is needed to look at how environmental crimes can be

overcome and the role of law in regulating actions that adversely affect the environment. This article

provides a broad analysis of the use of international treaties to address the climate crisis caused by

environmental crimes. This analysis is based on various journals and research from different fields of

science, to complement the explanation of the aspects involved, such as the climate crisis,

international agreements, and the role of law in environmental criminology. It is hoped that this

analysis of environmental crimes will provide a broader insight into the importance of handling

environmental issues by the state and why international agreements have not been able to have a

significant impact on urgent environmental crises, one of which is for people from affected countries.

2. Materials and Method

This article uses a qualitative descriptive method by conducting a literature review to collect

data and understand in depth the issue of environmental crime, especially related to international

agreements as an effort to handle this form of crime. Literature reviews allow for the comprehensive

collection of information from a variety of existing sources. This method utilizes previous research,

expert thinking, statistical data, and other related reports to provide a complete picture of the topic

discussed. Quote of Hannah Snyder (2019) in explaining the methodology of literature review, this

article uses a semi-systematic or narrative review approach for topics that have been conceptualized

differently and studied by different groups of researchers in various disciplines. This approach allows

the writer to construct a solid framework of thought and look at the topic from different perspectives

to gain a deeper understanding.

In the context of this article, a literature review is used to identify relevant literature related to

environmental crimes, particularly related to the climate crisis in Vanuatu. The author uses literature

studies to obtain related data that can be accessed online, both in the form of research journals, news,

and related official websites. To provide an overview of each of the frameworks or topics in this

article, the authors use six different journal articles and reports as the rationale for this case study

and explain environmental crimes in the context of the climate crisis in Vanuatu. The first article is a

journal article by Shivanna (2022) with the title "Climate change and its impact on biodiversity and

human welfare" to expand the explanation related to the impact of drastic climate change that is

relevant to the recent climate crisis because this article was written in 2022. Then the second article

is a journal article by Elliott et al. (2022) with the title "Credibility dilemmas under the Paris Agreement:

Explaining fossil fuel subsidy reform references in INDCs," which explains the reference to fossil fuel

subsidy reform in international agreements related to climate change, namely Intended Nationally

Determined Contributions which are still related to the Paris Agreement, which is the basis of the fossil

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fuel non-proliferation agreement. The third article is a journal article by Newell et al. (2022) with the

title "Building a fossil fuel non-proliferation treaty: Key elements" where this article analyzes the efforts

that have been made, both by countries that have approved this treaty to international organizations

or institutions and member communities. Then, to emphasize the concept of environmental crime as

one of the phenomena that not only harms the environment physically but also violate human rights,

the authors use an annual report by the Rainforest Action Network entitled "Bank of America's Role

in Fossil Fuel Expansion and the Violation of Human Rights which explain why the impact of climate

change which is the result of excessive use of fossil fuels is still related to human rights violations. The

next article is a journal article by Lynch et al. (2016), to deepen the criminological perspective in this

paper, with the title "The Weak Probability of Punishment for Environmental Offenses and Deterrence

of Environmental Offenders: A Discussion Based on USEPA Criminal Cases". This article is one of the

sources that help the author in developing the concept of deterrence in criminology and apply it to

environmental crimes. Finally, a journal article by Kramer (2016) title "State-Organized Crime,

International Law and Structural Contradictions" emphasizes the failure of international agreements

or laws to stop and prevent transnational crimes.

3. Results and Discussions

The Reality of International Agreements on Environmental Issues

Today, the world is on a path where countries produce more than twice as much fossil fuels.

This is contrary to the restrictions in the fossil fuel non-proliferation treaty, which until now is still

expected to be followed by the signatory countries. In addition to causing local pollution in the

producing and using the fuel, the use of fossil fuels is also the cause of the extreme climate crisis faced

by Vanuatu, a country that has called for a fossil fuel non-proliferation agreement in international

forums. In recent years, Vanuatu has declared a state of climate emergency, with a number of islands

in the country threatened to drown due to rising sea levels. Despite the impact, Vanuatu is a carbon-

negative country – meaning it absorbs more emissions than it produces – and has committed to

continuing its efforts to phase out all fossil fuels in the hope that Vanuatu will be able to eliminate the

use of these fuels by 100% by 2030. Even so, Vanuatu's current efforts have not been able to rule out

the possibility that his country will not be affected by this climate crisis.

On the BBC news website (2021), it is stated that one of the causes of this climate crisis is caused

by actions that cause temperature increases, especially the use of fossil fuels, which are actually

carried out by other countries. Therefore, all forms of efforts made by Vanuatu itself are not enough

to overcome the problems experienced by its country and the country's leaders raised this issue in an

international forum which then resulted in a fossil fuel non-proliferation agreement.

The fossil fuel non-proliferation agreement can be accessed through the Fossil Fuel Treaty

(https://fossilfueltreaty.org/vanuatu) website providing complete information related to this

agreement, starting from the beginning of the agreement, the supporting parties, to the development

of news and press releases that are constantly updated so that the public or individuals who are

interested in environmental issues can see the latest developments of this agreement. The agreement

spurs international cooperation to end new fossil fuel development, halt existing production within

the agreed climate limit of 1.5°C and develop long-term plans to support fossil fuel-dependent

workers, communities and countries to create security and healthy livelihoods. One by one, countries

then began to raise issues related to the climate crisis as well, one of which was Tuvalu which called

on other countries to develop a fossil fuel non-proliferation agreement in 2022. This Tuvalu action

shows that Pacific leadership has been critical to international climate policy for decades. The climate

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crisis itself is a non-trivial problem for the people of Pacific countries. This problem has even been

considered a human rights problem for the people of the Pacific Islands, one of which is Vanuatu.

The global agreement expressed by the President of Vanuatu at the 77th UN General Assembly

is one of Vanuatu's efforts to stop the impact of the climate crisis, especially the one that his country

is facing. Prior to the emergence of the fossil fuel non-proliferation agreement raised by the President

of Vanuatu, there was already an international agreement related to climate change, namely Intended

Nationally Determined Contributions (INDCs) in the 2015 Paris Agreement which is also the basis of

the climate limit target agreed in the fossil fuel non-proliferation agreement, which is 1.5°C. On the

World Resources Institute (https://www.wri.org/) website, it is explained how this agreement was

formed in the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) where the

countries involved explain the actions and efforts that will be taken to achieve the long-term goals in

the Paris Agreement; keep global average temperatures well below 2°C and pursue efforts to limit the

rise to 1.5°C so that net zero emissions can be achieved by the second half of the century. This INDC

is the main means for the government to communicate in international forums regarding each

country's steps in responding to climate change by considering its domestic capabilities.

Although this agreement looked quite promising that year, there has been no significant impact

that can be felt until today. The UN scientific body still finds it possible that the climate limit target

will exceed 1.5°C by 2030 to 2035 due to rising emissions until 2021, even though the country has

agreed to address this climate crisis (Boudreau, 2023). This shows that international agreements,

despite their potential, are still not able to effectively bind countries in restricting the use of fossil

fuels.

The Executive Director of the Lancet Countdown, Marina Romanello, said that the global

dependence on fossil energy has resulted in various negative impacts, including extreme climate

change that can affect the pillars of food security as a result of extreme weather that threatens crop

yields. The Vanuatu government has also considered the consequences for its country to be more than

just erratic weather changes; it is already human rights, where the President of Vanuatu mentioned

that they "measure climate change not by degrees Celsius but by the number of victims”.

In addition to the increasingly visible impact of climate change, there is still a lack of attention

from countries to the crisis experienced by other countries due to climate damage. It is noted that 69

out of 86 countries still provide fossil energy subsidies but fail to help support climate action in low-

income countries (Kompas, 2022). This shows that there are still many countries that prioritize their

own domestic interests because they have not felt the direct impact of the growing climate crisis. In

fact, public and private financing for fossil fuels is also still greater than investment in climate

adaptation and mitigation (Boudreau, 2023). Vanuatu's Minister of Climate Change Adaptation stated

that the fossil fuel industry must be held accountable because "it easily takes the world beyond its

goal of surviving below 1.5°C and is a major driver of losses and damage that Pacific island nations

are suffering” (RNZ, 2023). However, it is difficult for countries to stop using fossil fuels for reasons

of their own national interests.

In an article posted on the Brookings website (https://www.brookings.edu/essay/why-are-

fossil-fuels-so-hard-to-quit/), Samantha Gross explains in general why countries are struggling to

stop using fossil fuels. These difficulties are mainly related to political and economic factors. Efforts

to mitigate the impacts of climate change require restructuring the trillion-dollar industries that are

at the heart of the economy and people's lives. This decision will be difficult for politicians who tend

to focus more on policies that can provide immediate benefits or results in their country. In addition,

the biggest challenge is how developing countries can follow the efforts of developed countries in

providing modern energy as an alternative to fossil fuels. There is an idea that the need to provide

cleaner energy for developing countries is a challenge, but alternative efforts that exclude developing

countries are also not a solution.

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Gross also emphasized that long-term climate policy requires support from various state actors,

including politicians, business leaders, and civil society. This support is not only from within one

country, but also from other countries involved in the production and use of fossil fuels. Therefore,

the move by the President of Vanuatu to raise this issue in international forums is an important step

in overcoming global environmental problems that are detrimental to the country and its people.

While there are a variety of reasons that encourage countries to support fossil fuel agreements,

most of them center on the need to comply with the Paris Agreement. In fact, the climate crisis is

already widely felt by countries around the world. However, some countries still choose not to pay

attention to this issue due to reasons of domestic interests or economic benefits from the production

and use of fossil fuels. Although support has been seen from several quarters, the number of countries

that have not yet fully committed is still quite significant.

State Committee on International Treaties

Elliott, Bernstein, dan Hoffmann (2022) write articles related to fossil fuel subsidy reform (FFSR)

or reference fossil fuel subsidy reform in INDCs. With the global climate crisis, one of the steps that

countries should strive to take is to replace fossil fuels with other fuels that are more environmentally

friendly. But this will not be separated from the cost of fuel being more expensive and becoming a

political economy challenge which then becomes a consideration for FFSR reform. Although some

countries are committed to this agreement, most other countries are still hesitant to commit to their

commitments. This journal article analyzes the content of the agreement where article 4 of the Paris

Agreement creates something termed a credibility dilemma for the state. The existence of an

ambitious emission reduction plan is the main target of countries that are members of the

international agreement, but on the other hand, countries must also plan strategies to regulate the

national climate that require appropriate policies and at the same time can have an influence on the

international world. This FFSR is explained in two steps; (1) the state will refer to the measures that

have been ratified and institutionalized internationally so that then (2) the increase in

institutionalization can open a window of opportunity for the activation of norms because the

countries that are members and actors of these transnational policies articulate how the relevant

policies can justify the commitment appropriately.

From this article, it can be seen that full commitment to international agreements requires a

deep understanding of the domestic situation and conformity with international norms. However,

this process requires complex time and consideration, especially to ensure that the resulting policies

do not neglect domestic interests and people's well-being. The role of international agreements,

which was originally expected as a solution, has become a complicated consideration, especially when

domestic interests are the top priority.

Until now, there are still many countries that use and produce fossil fuels without any

restrictions that should be carried out as a commitment to the fossil fuel non-proliferation agreement

that has been agreed. Therefore, the state's commitment to this agreement is still questionable. The

level of involvement and commitment from country to country varies; Some countries have attempted

to take concrete steps to limit the use of fossil fuels, while others are still dependent on the fossil fuel

industry or have less ambitious policies to reduce emissions because they are considered less urgent

for their countries. For example, Australia is one of the countries that signed the fossil fuel non-

proliferation treaty, but the country continues to subsidize and promote new fossil fuel projects

(Komai, 2023).

The Ongoing Impact of the Climate Crisis

From year to year, the threat of climate change is becoming more and more apparent. Deaths

due to heat waves, asthma cases exacerbated by air pollution exacerbated by heat, emergencies that

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cause malnutrition due to drought, to natural disasters such as floods and forest fires are increasingly

frequent (Howard et al., 2022). Articles related to climate change, one of which is research conducted

by Shivanna (2022) about the impact of climate change on biodiversity and human well-being,

strengthening the understanding of current climate conditions. In addition to providing an overview

of the climate conditions we are currently facing, the study also shows the impact of climate change

in the coming decades based on an analysis of available data.

A comparison of the performance of climate models published between 1970 and 2007 in

projecting global average surface temperatures and observed changes using actual observations

shows that the models are consistent in predicting global warming in the years following publication.

The article mentions several triggers for climate change, including greenhouse gas emissions that are

mostly caused by the burning of fossil fuels (coal, oil, and natural gas) for industries that produce

carbon emissions during their extraction and consumption, as well as logging or deforestation

triggered by the demands of post-industrial urbanization.

These two main triggers have had several impacts, two of which occurred in Vanuatu; sea level

rise and extreme weather patterns, as well as natural disasters such as droughts, cyclones, hurricanes,

typhoons, and forest fires. This phenomenon not only harms the state but also ignores the welfare of

the community. Based on the data and results provided, Shivanna concluded that the development of

the era in society and the demands and encouragement of certain industrial sectors resulted in the

need for things that have an impact on the environment, especially the climate crisis. This is

essentially an unfair phenomenon; Developing countries suffer more and feel the consequences of the

climate crisis compared to developed countries. If this problem is not addressed immediately, the

impact will be even worse and future generations will face greater suffering than they are currently

experiencing.

The climate crisis is also considered a violation of human rights because the phenomenon has

a significant impact on human lives and livelihoods, especially on vulnerable communities with

limited resources to cope with extreme weather events. Based on the Rainforest Action Network

report in (2023), extreme weather triggered by climate change, such as hurricanes, fires, floods, and

heat waves, has led to loss of life, destruction of habitats, and threats to human rights including the

right to life, water, food, health, and decent shelter. Of course, the expansion of fossil fuel extraction,

transportation, processing, and burning exacerbates climate change, which has an impact on

individuals and society at large. Therefore, the climate crisis is considered a violation of human rights

because it is detrimental to human welfare, health, and the environment, especially for marginalized

and vulnerable communities.

With the reality that the climate crisis cannot be resolved immediately, international

agreements still face difficulties in having a significant impact on pressing issues such as

environmental issues. This is due to the existence of domestic laws and the interests of each country

that are difficult to unite, making it difficult to exert a significant influence on such a large crisis. This

phenomenon shows that a country's compliance with international agreements still requires

consideration of its effectiveness in overcoming environmental issues that harm many parties and

the welfare of people in affected countries.

International Treaties in Criminological Perspectives

From the perspective of criminology, the law plays a role in preventing and handling various

cases and crimes committed by individuals and groups. The discussion of this crime includes various

forms of crime, including environmental crimes. However, laws related to environmental crimes are

still ambiguous. The difficulty in determining the perpetrators, victims, and forms of environmental

crime itself is one of the factors that results in environmental crime becoming difficult to understand.

Even so, the discussion related to environmental crime and its related elements is still one of the

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topics that is widely discussed from a criminological point of view. This is because environmental

crimes not only have an impact on the environment physically, but can also have an impact on the

welfare of the community related to the fulfillment of human rights.

Citing one of the chapters in the book "Environmental Crime and its Victims", Pemberton

explains some of the problems of environmental criminology and the difficulty in explaining

environmental victimization involving victims and perpetrators. The definition of victim in the

context of crime is often different from environmental crime. A new definition of the word victim has

emerged, where in general the victim of a crime is an individual or group who has suffered a loss and

can be seen clearly or can be constructed based on the crime event that occurred. However, it is

different from environmental crime which can occur due to a long chain of causes and effects and

further studies are needed whether a form of environmental damage is caused by certain parties or

occurs naturally. There are several characteristics that can illustrate the difficulties in this process of

victimization. First, in environmental crime, there is a risk of overlap between the perpetrator and

the victim, which is termed as a free-rider. One example is the problem of climate change caused by

the use of carbon dioxide emissions by the community will have an impact on society with climate

change. Without realizing it, the unpleasant phenomenon felt by a society is the result of their own

daily activities. But it is not uncommon for people to only complain about this without trying to make

changes that have a significant impact on the environment. This is because people are not aware that

they have become victims of environmental crimes and tend to associate the losses experienced with

other causes and not because of environmental damage factors.

Second, a large number of casualties. Some examples are relatively small cases of pollution that

can harm hundreds of individuals, the impact of environmental damage from one area can affect other

areas that are not directly related, and actions that are beneficial to one party can cause losses to

others. Not only are the victims large-scale, but the impact of this environmental damage can also

have an impact over a long period of time if not properly handled. In addition, in some cases, this long

chain of cause and effect stems from the role of the government or the involvement of state actors.

Although not directly involved, the state is the authority that passes the rule of law for its people to

obey. It is not uncommon for representatives of countries with such authority to then use their rights

in passing regulations to cover up white-collar and corporate crimes such as illegal exploitation of the

environment. This is also related to the transnational aspect of environmental crimes, where the

impact of environmental crimes committed by a country can damage the environment and have an

impact on other countries (Pemberton, 2016).

Understanding environmental crime and its complexity is a challenge for criminologists to

develop effective law enforcement strategies and protect the environment and society from their

negative impacts.

In the context of environmental criminology, a multidisciplinary approach is needed to

understand and address environmental crime from multiple perspectives. One of the relevant

approaches is conservation criminology, which is an interdisciplinary approach to looking at and

analyzing environmental risks. The basis of conservation criminology includes three disciplines;

Natural resource policy and management, criminology and criminal justice, and risk analysis and

decision (Gibbs et al., 2010). These three disciplines each encompass a broader understanding of

problems and characterize solutions to environmental crime and risks. The discipline of criminology

and criminal law focuses on legally defined crimes and deals with stakeholder engagement and public

participation as well as the application of multi and interdisciplinary theories, which can be used to

look at the phenomenon of environmental crimes involving multiple countries at once. In accordance

with environmental criminology problems in general, uncertainty is an element of environmental

risks included in this conservation criminology framework.

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In addition, a number of crime-related interventions included in conservation criminology are

built on the idea of deterrence. Deterrence theory is one example of a central framework in

criminology and criminal justice that serves as a bridge between the two aspects because the criminal

justice system is primarily responsible for establishing and enforcing criminal penalties Simply put,

this theory explains that a person chooses to commit a crime if he feels that he will get a profit greater

than the cost he has to spend. Thus, this theory assumes that the perpetrator of a crime is someone

who can think rationally so that he can weigh the potential costs and benefits of a criminal act and

then decide whether to commit or not to commit the crime (Moreto & Gau, 2017).

The criminal penalty itself, which is usually in the form of imprisonment or fines, is one of the

common crime prevention methods used to deter potential offenders, eliminate the company's desire

to pay to poll and implement the provisions of environmental law crimes where the law applies.

Although in its implementation criminal punishment can have a deterrent effect, it turns out that it

does not apply to environmental crimes. Proven in a journal article by Lynch et al. (2016) which found

that out of about 18 federal environmental crime cases in the United States, fewer than five criminal

cases are handled each year. From the applicable law, criminal charges against existing

environmental crime perpetrators are not rational enough to be able to produce a deterrent effect. So

in the United States itself, it is not uncommon for many environmental destroyers, it can be said that

they are rational actors, who pursue monetary benefits because they are considered more profitable

than obeying related regulations. The article also alludes to several previous studies that show that

although criminal penalties provide a significant deterrent effect, the impact will be negligible on the

environmental damage that one example of this is produced by polluting industries that have high

levels of pollution. They argue that more attention should be paid to the construction and purpose of

environmental laws and questioned whether existing regulations are strict enough to protect the

environment, humans, and other related species, rather than simply paying attention to violations of

environmental laws that do not help address the current pressing ecological problem. Therefore,

punishment should focus more on actions that refer to the occurrence of damage, one example such

as the continuous expansionist tendency as a form of sustainable development of capitalism.

The fossil fuel non-proliferation agreement is a form of making an agreement to stop the

exploration and expansion of fossil fuels and stop existing production in accordance with the targets

specified in the Paris Agreement, while striving to make a transition to renewable energy. The

existence of this international agreement is a reinforcement of the Paris Agreement which has been

approved a few years ago. One example of the country's contribution and dedication to this is that the

G7 countries (Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States)

agreed to stop international financing for coal projects since 2021 as a form of contribution to the

Paris Agreement. Quoting from the World Economic Forum (https:// www.weforum.org/) website,

the International Energy Agency (IEA) has also made a stern warning by saying that investors should

not fund oil, gas, and coal supply projects. As one of the concrete efforts made, Japan has stopped

funding for two coal-fired power plant projects in Indonesia and Bangladesh. This action is one

example that this international agreement has become a law that applies as a restriction on actions

that can refer to the occurrence of environmental damage as previously alluded to by Lynch et al.

(2016), and it is not just a form of punishment given if a damage has actually occurred.

Although many countries have ratified international agreements and have taken several actions

to support them, the authors argue that significant impacts or changes will still be difficult to see in

the next few years if countries do not provide a concise and clear timeline for their actions. Although

it is undeniable that this effort needs to be carried out gradually and needs to adjust to the conditions

of each country. However, a journal article written by Kramer (2016), provide evidence that although

criminologists provide clear definitions of state behavior that can be considered as crimes or acts that

violate established international principles, international law still fails to act to provide accountability

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for states and provide protection for victims. Based on Bill Chambliss's speech, which was later

published under the title "State-Organized Crime", criminologists began to use international law as a

set of standards to classify state behavior as criminal. Although this helps criminologists in defining

and viewing acts as crimes, in practice international law cannot do much to control crime. Kramer

(2016) asserts that while international law can resolve certain conflicts or dilemmas, it has never

addressed the underlying structural contradictions due to limitations that cannot govern the

underlying economic and political structures, in his research, in the United States.

Broadly speaking, it is concluded that a regulation that is at the international level cannot be

fully considered a binding regulation. Although basically one of the prevention of crime is the

procurement of a form of regulation that regulates related to the crime. Environmental crime itself is

still a form of crime that is difficult to analyze and requires a special point of view, meaning that

environmental crimes such as the use of fossil fuels even still have an overlap between victims and

perpetrators where fossil fuel perpetrators also feel the impact of the use of fossil fuels themselves

with climate change or increasingly warming weather. But there are still many victims of this climate

crisis who do not feel victimized and do not care to overcome it. Then there are still many widespread

links from the use of fossil fuels, such as the crisis in Vanuatu which is not just an environmental crisis

but has also taken human victims, so that it has become a criminal phenomenon that is detrimental

to human rights and a form of serious crime.

International agreements cannot be decisive in providing sanctions and all decisions taken by

a country are still in the hands of the leaders of their respective countries. International agreements

can only provide an overview, direction, and commitment that can be made by a country to achieve

certain goals. So, to overcome environmental crimes that cause the climate crisis in the world, the

fossil fuel non-proliferation agreement can provide direction and warning to countries of the urgency

in taking preventive measures against the excessive use of fossil fuels, but the implementation of this

international agreement returns to each country. On the other hand, this fossil fuel non-proliferation

agreement has only been going on for a long time and several parties have given their commitments,

in early 2023 several countries have also begun to give their respective efforts in committing to the

cessation of the production and use of fossil fuels.

Some parties who agree on the urgency of this phenomenon have already moved forward and

committed to fossil fuel non-proliferation agreements. As time goes by, approximately 1 year after

this agreement is agreed, the development of the countries involved also needs to be monitored and

how far it has been implemented. Newell et al. (2022) wrote in their article regarding the

development of the country and also the parties involved who are considered to have started to apply

several rules. In looking at the production of fossil fuels themselves, the most important thing is

funding because to produce and process this fuel also requires a lot of money. Therefore, one of the

movements or efforts that can stop fossil fuel production is the cessation of financing for this

production. Some examples of stopping this funding include the World Bank's commitment to

withdraw financing from fossil fuels, quoted from the World Bank (https://www.worldbank.org/)

website that the World Bank itself is the largest multilateral climate investment funder in developing

countries by providing more than US$26 billion in climate finance in 2021. This funding termination

plan is also followed by the European Investment Bank which has begun to limit fossil fuel financing.

In addition, 20 governments in Glasgow have also agreed to stop financing fossil fuels abroad since

the end of 2022. Instead, this funding can be allocated to help developing countries or countries that

still need support with facilitation measures such as capacity building and financial support.

In addition, there have been emerging global efforts to reduce methane emissions, which

account for more than half of today's man-made cookers due to their higher heat capture potential

and capabilities in the first few decades after release. The United States and European Union countries

introduced the Global Methane Pledge at the 26th Conference of the Parties (COP26), which aims to

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cut methane emission levels by 30 percent from 2020 to 2030. Then, at COP28, oil companies

announced that they would reduce methane emissions from their wells and drilling by more than 80

percent by the end of the decade, with commitments that include international monitoring to hold

those companies accountable (Maizland, 2023).

Therefore, stability is needed in commitments and efforts to deal with this climate crisis,

especially countries that have signed this fossil fuel non-proliferation agreement. Every five years,

countries are supposed to evaluate their progress in implementing the agreement through a process

known as global stocktake. Therefore, the development of countries' compliance efforts with this

agreement needs to be further analyzed in the next few years.

4. Conclusion

The fossil fuel non-proliferation treaty is a global initiative aimed at addressing the climate

crisis by reaching agreements between countries on the use of fossil fuels and other related activities.

The urgency of this crisis is voiced by island nations such as Vanuatu, which are highly exposed and

experiencing serious threats to their communities and human rights due to climate change. A similar

phenomenon is felt by other countries, posing a common challenge that is closely related to people's

welfare. However, despite widespread support, the implementation of this agreement is hampered

by domestic interests that slow down the decision-making process. This slowdown reflects the

political and policy complexity that also hampers substantial change in the handling of environmental

crimes, even though the impact involves human rights and unfulfilled public welfare. Therefore,

monitoring countries' commitments to fossil fuel non-proliferation agreements is important, and

needs to be done as a routine agenda to ensure the achievement of the efforts that have been made

and ensure countries' compliance with these agreements.

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