The Need for Climate Justice

The impacts of climate change are not experienced equally or fairly, between countries, and also between the communities within them. This is due both to the fact that there is an unequal historical responsibility for climate change (and an unequal burden of the impacts of a changing climate) on one hand. And on the other hand, is the reality that we live in an unequal world, irrespective of climate change.

These historical and structural inequities like colonialism, sexism, racism, ableism, homophobia, classism, ageism, etc. make the impacts of climate change worse for already vulnerable populations.

Thus climate justice focuses on putting equity and human rights at the core of decision-making and action on climate change. It “insists on a shift from a discourse on greenhouse gases and melting ice caps into a civil rights movement with the people and communities most vulnerable to climate impacts at its heart,” according to Mary Robinson, Chair of The Elders (an independent group of global leaders working for peace, justice, human rights and a sustainable planet, founded by Nelson Mandela).

There are five primary injustices at the heart of climate change:

• Degree of responsibility: Those who bear the least responsibility for climate change are the ones who will suffer the most.
• Impact on lower income regions: When natural disasters strike, they hit poor communities first and worst. Countries with lower incomes are being hit hardest by climate change.
• Lack of capacity to deal with the impacts of climate change: Climate change is having a disproportionately large effect on the most vulnerable countries, communities, and people, some of the least-equipped to deal with these impacts.
• Intergenerational impacts: Younger generations will suffer these consequences more greatly than their parents and grandparents.
• Gender disparity: In many countries, women are not only responsible for producing food, water, and childcare, but also for managing these elements within their larger communities. Women (and children) are more likely to die than men during disasters, and the same goes for other historically disadvantaged groups like the disabled, the elderly, refugees and immigrants, queer communities and Indigenous peoples.

Climate Justice declares that the countries, industries, businesses, and people that have become wealthy from emitting large amounts of greenhouse gases have a responsibility to help those affected by climate change, particularly the most vulnerable countries and communities, who often are the ones that have contributed the least to the crisis.

There is no singular centralized authority on the demands of climate justice. Instead, it is a movement that must be pursued in our local context, where the challenges and needs are different from community to community.

Here are some shared principles when it comes to taking action on climate justice, from the Mary Robinson Foundation:

• Respecting and protecting human rights: The guarantee of basic rights rooted in respect for the dignity of the person which is at the core of this approach makes it an indispensable foundation for action on climate justice.
• Supporting the right to development: Climate change highlights our true interdependence and must lead to a new and respectful paradigm of sustainable development, based on the urgent need to scale up and transfer green technologies and to support low carbon climate resilient strategies for the poorest so that they become part of the combined effort in mitigation and adaptation.
• Sharing benefits and burdens equitably: The benefits and burdens associated with climate change and its resolution must be fairly allocated. This involves acceptance of common but differentiated responsibilities and respective capabilities in relation to the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions. Those who have most responsibility for greenhouse gas emissions and most capacity to act must cut emissions first.
• Ensuring participatory, transparent and accountable decision-making on climate change: The opportunity to participate in decision-making processes which are fair, accountable, open and corruption-free is essential to the growth of a culture of climate justice. The voices of the most vulnerable to climate change must be heard and acted upon.
• Highlighting gender equality and equity: Women’s voices must be heard and their priorities supported as part of climate justice. In many countries and cultures, women are at the forefront of living with the reality of the injustices caused by climate change. They are critically aware of the importance of climate justice in contributing to the right to development being recognized and can play a vital role as agents of change within their communities.
• Harnessing the transformative power of education for climate stewardship: The transformative power of education under-pins other principles, making their successful adoption more likely and inculcating into cultures a deeper awareness of human rights and climate justice than is presently to be found. To achieve climate stabilisation will necessitate radical changes in lifestyle and behaviour and education has the power to equip future generations with the skills and knowledge they will need to thrive and survive.
• Using effective partnerships to secure climate justice: Openness to partnership is a vital aspect of any coherent approach to climate change, and in the name of climate justice, this must also involve partnership with those most affected by climate change and least able adequately to deal with it – the poor and under-resourced.

It is important that we recognize the efforts of youth climate advocates in particular, for advancing the climate justice movement to one that is increasingly recognized worldwide.

The Caribbean region has also been a major voice for climate justice globally, where we have finally secured funding for a loss and damage fund, that will direct capital from high-emitting “developed” countries to low-emitting “developing” countries to support efforts to prepare for and adapt to the shocks and challenges that we can no longer mitigate away.

For more information on Climate Justice activation across the Caribbean, please check out our Climate Justice in Action tab.

Author: Alicia Richins
Sustainable Impact Strategist | SDG Champion | Climate Justice Advocate | Climate Futures Writer