We Need a Global Climate Observatory

Climate threats are growing, placing intense pressure on governments to respond quickly and effectively. For democracies, much is on the line—competent efforts to address the fallout from climate-induced natural disasters could reinforce the legitimacy of democratic governance, while poor management could erode trust in public institutions, creating pressures that undermine democracy itself.

In this essay, Mark Buntaine, a professor at the Bren School of Environmental Science & Management at UC Santa Barbara, proposes that in order to help governments better prepare for the possible outcomes of climate change, a large-scale data infrastructure is needed to help understand how people respond to both critical climate events and mitigating interventions. Establishing that disasters overwhelm normal government functions and exacerbate societal divisions, while noting substantial limitations to existing data for how climate change and climate policies are impacting democratic governance, Buntaine makes a call for greater collaboration to establish a climate observatory that can provide a long-term, data-rich view of the climate-democracy nexus.

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On January 30–31, 2025, IGCC convened a first-of-its-kind research incubator to examine the links between climate change, democratic backsliding, and public backlash against green policies. The conversation aimed to bridge the divide between scholars within the political and climate sciences to promote interdisciplinary studies at the crossroads between global environmental and governance challenges. Workshop participants prepared memos before the meeting responding to two questions: under which conditions can climate change and climate policies trigger a green backlash? And what are the consequences of climate change disruptions and green backlash for democracy? These memos are now published as part of an ongoing IGCC essay series on Climate Change, Green Backlash, and Democracy.