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Climate action threatens to exacerbate existing social inequities, so it is important for justice to be at the heart of national responses to climate change. Based on an understanding of climate change as a manifestation of severed relationships and exploitative dynamics that are produced and reproduced through colonial, capitalist, patriarchal systems, we argue that the ways in which we conceptualize and enact climate justice must be decolonial, ecocentric, relational and integrative. Consistent with this positioning, we sought to develop an Indigenous climate justice policy analysis tool to assess and inform policy development. We drew on elements of existing frameworks and tools to develop a tool, which was progressively refined following external advisory group review and piloting. The tool addresses five dimensions of justice (relational, procedural, distributive, recognition and restorative), each of which comprises individual criteria assessed according to three levels of achievement. This rating system acknowledges progress within existing social, political and economic systems, but also identifies system transformation as a prerequisite for achieving genuine justice. Application of the tool focuses attention on issues well beyond typical climate policy considerations, such as the capacity of all human and non-human entities to express political agency. The tool has been developed for use in analysing national climate policy in Aotearoa New Zealand, but we have endeavoured to make it adaptable for use in other settings. Key policy insights: Climate injustice is rooted in colonialism; Indigenous decolonial conceptions of climate justice provide a critical grounding for policy responses to climate change. Climate justice is not attainable within existing colonial political systems. It can only be achieved through reform of governance and constitutional arrangements to re-establish Indigenous natural law. Analysis of climate policy must consider not only how to optimize justice within existing social, political and economic systems, but also how policy can disrupt those systems to create transformative change. Our policy analysis tool, grounded in relational epistemologies, extends beyond the scope of conventional analyses to examine critical issues across five dimensions of justice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the realm of climate policy, issues of environmental justice (EJ) are often treated as second-order affairs compared to overarching sustainability goals. We argue that EJ is in fact critical to successfully addressing our national and global climate challenges; indeed, centering equity amplifies the voices of the diverse constituencies most impacted by climate change and that are needed to build successful coalitions that shape and advance climate change policy. We illustrate this perspective by highlighting the experience of California and the contentious processes by which EJ became integrated into the state's climate action efforts. We examine the achievements and shortcomings of California's commitment to climate justice and discuss how lessons from the Golden State are influencing the evolution of current federal climate change policy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Focusing on the nexus of climate and housing policy, this article analyzes the socio‐spatial consequences of urban climate mitigation policies and the resultant need to broaden the concept of climate justice. By using the example of energy retrofitting in a low‐income district in Kiel, Germany, the article examines cities' dependence on real estate companies to reach low‐carbon goals in a privatized housing market and the (potential) need to provide incentives for investment. As the case study shows, this can lead to a highly sensitive confluence of climate policy, private real estate investment and neighborhood development policy, which leads to a higher financial burden as well as the potential displacement and further political marginalization of current tenants. In light of these results, the article argues for the application of a climate justice frame in analyses of urban climate policies that integrates housing justice with spatial justice. Specifically, it calls for the right to climate‐just housing; that is, for the right to affordable housing to be connected with the right to energy‐efficient housing in one's own neighborhood. This implies the right to information and to urban space as political space, which in turn means the politicization of the targets, strategies and, not least, spaces of urban climate policy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Global South (or Low-Income Countries, LICs) long has been advocating for the establishment of a Loss and Damage (L&D) Fund to address vulnerability and limited adaptation capacity in response to disasters exacerbated by climate injustices, which finally gained international recognition of late. This essay focuses on two key moments that led to this landmark agreement: at COP19, when Philippines climate delegate Naderev "Yeb" Saño advocated for L&D in the wake of Typhoon Haiyan; and during COP27, when global leaders invoked the historic floods in Pakistan as the agreement was reached. We consider how these two disasters were invoked during the passing of L&D in ways that critically interrupted the prevailing spiral of silence to articulate "disasters" to "climate" and "climate" to "justice" in the global climate policy arena. These discourses reveal, then, part of the expanding imaginary emerging to address human agency and inequities in an age of the climate disasters, including the idea of a "global majority." [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Amid escalating climate challenges, we examine relationships between longtermism beliefs with policy-level and grassroots climate-protective attitudes and actions. Across four primary pre-registered studies (N = 4451) and two supplementary pilots (N = 1858), we find that a significant portion, approximately 25% of our participants, who endorse the longtermism ethical philosophy, report heightened climate change concerns. Furthermore, longtermists show stronger support for pro-climate policies, advocate for initiatives in line with climate justice for future generations and present-day minoritized groups and make proactive contributions to environmental causes and initiatives. Moreover, we find that responsibility to distant future generations drives these associations. Through a targeted intervention, we boosted intergenerational responsibility and increased donations to an environmental charity. These findings highlight how longtermism beliefs shape pro-environmental attitudes and actions, offering valuable insights for climate advocacy strategies and cultivating more widespread support for comprehensive environmental policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In collaboration with women's organizations in India, Indonesia, Mexico and South Africa, an approach for a novel gender assessment of urban climate policies was developed and tested. The Gender Assessment and Monitoring of Mitigation and Adaptation (GAMMA) methodology allows for an in-depth analysis of the institutional framework and the mitigation and adaptation policies of cities. Its application by the women's organizations in 14 pilot cities led to policy recommendations on how to integrate gender equality into urban mitigation and adaptation actions. The results of a monitoring exercise show that the project has made a significant step forward in raising awareness of gender issues and gender-responsive action at the urban level. It provides civil society organizations working on climate justice with a tool to push local governments to work towards low-carbon, resilient, gender-just and inclusive cities. It can also be used by local governments for self-assessment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Perspektive Mediation is the property of Verlag Oesterreich GmbH and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

From fossil fuel corporations sponsoring climate change education to youth‐washing international gatherings, young people are bombarded, and simultaneously abandoned, by struggles for climate justice. The root issues fuelling interlocking environmental and social crises are often erased in initiatives involving youth. These crises are a direct result of broader, structural conditions that have become the de facto global order and propel notions of sustainable development. In settler colonial contexts such as Canada, colonialism, capitalism and inequitable forms of violence mutually depend upon one another to perpetuate climate injustice. Youth are increasingly aware of these entanglements, while seemingly discouraged from transformative action. With these tensions in mind, this commentary investigates the obstacles youth face despite making key contributions to justice‐focused climate action, and draws attention to the necessity of strengthening meaningful youth engagement. To explore this issue, we engage with climate and environmental justice literature, youth‐led initiatives, and youth representation on a global stage. Young people are bombarded, and simultaneously abandoned, by struggles for climate justice. Yet, youth are increasingly aware of the root issues fuelling interlocking environmental and social crises despite their erasure in climate action initiatives. With these tensions in mind, this commentary investigates the obstacles youth face despite making key contributions to justice‐focused climate action, and draws attention to the necessity of strengthening meaningful youth engagement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) are critical climate policy documents formulated by the Party countries, under the UNFCCC Paris Agreement, to communicate their goals and commitments to reduce national emissions and adapt to the impacts of climate change. As an emerging discourse genre, it has attracted increasing attention from discourse analysts. However, few studies have specifically focused on the NDCs of African countries as a whole, leading into the situation in which their positions and voices are largely underrepresented in the current climate negotiation. Using a combined method of positioning theory and critical discourse analysis, this paper aims to explore the African countries' positioning in the climate change agenda by examining the discursive narratives around three prominent thematic categories in their NDCs, i.e. responsibility, vulnerability and conditionality. It is found that the African countries intend to position themselves as non-villains, victims, and demi-heroes by strategically highlighting their insignificant historical responsibility, exceptional vulnerability, and conditionality of implementation on the external support from the international community. Furthermore, it is argued that the commonality of their self-positioning is conducive to forming a collective identity to resist the hegemonic discourses of inequality and struggle for equity in the current climate negotiation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The global climate crisis demands that all branches of government play a role in tackling climate change, including the judiciary. One important mechanism is climate litigation. In the adjudication of climate litigation, courts can advance the protection of human rights, promote environmental values, assist in developing climate change law and policy, and uphold the rule of law. However, some Latin American countries are facing several constitutional and legal barriers to adequately protecting environmental and human rights enshrined in their constitutions. Through analysis of the Chilean and Ecuadorian contexts, this note identifies obstacles and barriers that might prevent human rights' protection in each jurisdiction when adjudicating climate cases and proposes reforms that may strengthen courts' performance. Among the options are strengthening existing environmental and human rights provisions, developing new legal frameworks addressing climate change, and enhancing the capacity of courts to hear and decide climate change cases. Furthermore, these reforms must be accompanied by adequate resources, training, and support for the judiciary effectively to advance climate justice through human rights. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Against the backdrop of the judicialization transformation of global climate governance, China's judicial system has shown a comprehensive and positive attitude towards addressing climate change. It is urgent to form a systematic localization plan for climate justice as a new specialized field of environmental justice. The localization of climate justice emphasizes its subjectivity, the understanding of which requires placing the concept system, function orientation, trial mechanism, adjudication system, and rules of climate justice in the specific background and social structure of the modernization of China's rule of law, and its internal logic is a dynamic system encompassing normative system, value sequence, and function orientation. Currently, the multi-level legislation in China's system of climate judicial norms presents indirect and principled characteristics, coupled with the insufficient creation of diversified judicial norms and the unfinished task of systematization, inducing circumscribed dilemmas and coherent problems in climate judicial norms. Under such circumstances, the identification and core value of the legal interests protected by climate justice have not been clearly defined, and many external factors, such as scientific uncertainty, policy trade-offs, and economic incentives, limit the value judgment of climate change cases. These issues profoundly affect the function orientation and development direction of climate justice as public welfare and governance justice. Therefore, the approaches and paths for the localization of climate justice should be based on the triple logic of norm, value, and function as well as the problems or requirements presented. Firstly, it is necessary to strengthen the shaping of an order incorporating multiple norms. The specific path is to promote the systematization of climate change legislation through the synergy of public and private laws, to consolidate consensus by strengthening secondary climate judicial norms, and to enhance the compatibility of the climate judicial normative system using diversified legal interpretation methods. Secondly, there is a need to establish the authority of legal argument with interests as the core, to strengthen the substantive reasons of the judgment by assessing carbon-related interests, to reinforce the openness of the judgment through the multi-dimensional protection of climate and environmental interests, and to enhance the authoritative reasons for the judgment through the balance of external and legal factors. Finally, it is necessary to shape the dual functions of climate justice precisely, with the principle of risk prevention to build preventive public interest climate justice and policy judicialization to build governance climate justice that serves the ' dual carbon' goals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Study of Christianity & Social Problems / Kirisutokyo Shakaimondai Kenkyu is the property of Institute for Study of Humanities & Social Sciences, Doshisha University and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Climate litigation based on the constitutional rights of future generations is an emerging and promising approach to enforcing long-term policies based on intergenerational and climate justice. In Germany, a high-profile constitutional judgment triggered by climate activists ruled that the German climate policy infringes future freedom rights. Based on an assessment of legal opportunity structures and interviews with key actors, this research finds that the complainants utilised the opportunity to facilitate a strong public perception of intergenerational injustice set by the Fridays for Future movement. While the court's response in the form of the intertemporal effect doctrine is ambiguous and does not constitute clear fundamental rights of future generations, the complainants reached their strategic goal to directly influence policymakers and draw public attention to the issue of climate protection as an intergenerational responsibility. An interplay of four different legal arguments and numerous actors associated with the climate movement was crucial to triggering this outcome. These findings from a sociolegal bottom-up perspective are of great relevance as they show that impactful climate litigation through intergenerational principles relies on the strategic utilisation of the cultural context beyond the legal sphere. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The recent polycrises of COVID-19, economic recession, and energy price increases have reinforced the critical importance of energy services – such as heating, information and communications technology, and refrigeration – to everyday societal functioning. Compromising access to these energy services, or energy poverty, limits social and economic development affecting education, health, and social participation. Energy poverty is impacted by climate change and climate-related policies – however, this nexus has been marginalised within social policy. We critically review literature at the intersection of climate change and energy poverty identifying policy approaches, tensions, and solutions of relevance for social policy. While tensions exist between efforts to mitigate climate change and energy poverty, climate-friendly mitigation of energy poverty requires better integration of social perspectives to disrupt current technical biases, recognising the characteristics and needs of individuals in energy poverty, and holistic governance approaches, especially involving the health and housing sectors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This policy-oriented article explores the sustainability dimension of digitalisation and artificial intelligence (AI). While AI can contribute to halting climate change via targeted applications in specific domains, AI technology in general could also have detrimental effects for climate policy goals. Moreover, digitalisation and AI can have an indirect effect on climate policy via their impact on political processes. It will be argued that, if certain conditions are fulfilled, AI-facilitated digital tools could help with setting up frameworks for bottom-up citizen participation that could generate the legitimacy and popular buy-in required for speedy transformations needed to reach net zero such as radically revamping the energy infrastructure among other crucial elements of the green transition. This could help with ameliorating a potential dilemma of voice versus speed regarding the green transition. The article will further address the nexus between digital applications such as AI and climate justice. Finally, the article will consider whether innovative governance methods could instil new dynamism into the multi-level global climate regime, such as by facilitating interlinkages and integration between different levels. Before implementing innovative governance arrangements, it is crucial to assess whether they do not exacerbate old or even generate new inequalities of access and participation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This summary provides an overview of a special issue that focuses on the climate crisis in Africa and its global implications. The articles cover various themes, including critiques of market-driven approaches to climate change, the impact of wars and imperialism on climate devastation, Africa's limited contribution to emissions, challenges and limitations of transitioning to renewable energy, exploitation and inequality perpetuated by market schemes, negative effects of climate policies on livelihoods and labor relations, the role of activism and grassroots movements, and the importance of decolonial critiques and reparations in achieving climate justice. The editors hope that this collection will be a valuable resource for researchers and activists seeking insights on the climate emergency. [Extracted from the article]

China's perceptions of climate justice have changed since 2007, affecting the country's domestic climate policies and its actions internationally. This study takes 2007 as a starting point, as that was a milestone year in China: climate change was made a national priority issue. Examining China's views as to what were perceived as 'fair' regarding climate actions around 2007, we compare these with more recent perceptions of what 'climate justice' entails for China's climate responsibilities. We find that China's perceptions have changed regarding what being a 'responsible' country entails. From seeing itself as a developing country that should focus on other pressing challenges, China now views itself as a leading developing country that must reduce carbon emissions as soon as possible, and also as a donor providing aid to less wealthy developing countries. With ongoing feedback between the international and domestic levels on climate change, the principle of unequal burden sharing has also been incorporated into how China now delegates its domestic climate and energy targets, demanding more of its developed provinces and areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Pacific Island actors have long called for climate justice in the international climate regime, particularly in the form of financial support. While climate finance can be conceptualised as a mechanism of climate justice, the extent to which climate finance does indeed contribute to climate justice is contested. We explore these contestations by looking at Australia's development programme in the Pacific between 2010 and 2019, examining both policy documents and climate finance flows. This analysis is conducted through a climate justice lens that we conceptualise as consisting of three dimensions: adequacy, additionality, and predictability; balance between adaptation and mitigation and priority provision of adaptation finance to vulnerable recipients; and donor coordination. Our analysis shows that Australian public climate finance has not acted as a mechanism of climate justice according to our criteria in the period studied, even if does meet some criteria of climate justice. From a justice perspective, Australia has approached climate change inconsistently and at times incoherently across its development program in Pacific Island countries. These results provide important lessons for Australia's approach going forward, under a new government and a new development policy framework. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Climate-induced changes will become an increasingly important factor in development patterns and where people choose to live. Assisting residents as they make decisions about staying and whether or if to move, and where to go, will become a critical dimension of climate adaptation policy. Using global cases of relocation initiatives, this article examines how adaptive relocation policy can facilitate community-led opportunities for frontline communities—communities of color and those with lower incomes—as people move from and stay in risky environments. It then summarizes factors to consider when designing relocation initiatives to lead to outcomes that improve people's well-being. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Conversations about how to tackle climate change often fail to incorporate the perspectives of activists from the Environmental Justice Movement and the Just Transition Alliance. Ignoring voices from workers and communities that have been in the sacrifice zones of environmental contamination often leads to "false solutions" that further exacerbate both the disproportionate impacts on communities of color and the threats from climate change. In this perspective, three EJ activists provide a clarification and reminder on why and how the terms environmental justice and just transition became critical to the movement for climate justice. Policies for climate justice planning are included. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This special issue amplifies the contributions of technical communicators working on climate justice initiatives across the Majority World. By Majority World, we refer not to a specific geography but to the conditions in which most of humanity lives: lacking economic, social, and/or political agency, and absent adequate institutional access to critical infrastructures. The articles in this issue make explicit the need for TPC scholars to rethink, update, and engage in spaces of environmental injustice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The United States government has indicated a desire to advance environmental justice through climate policy. As fossil fuel combustion produces both conventional pollutants and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, climate mitigation strategies may provide an opportunity to address historical inequities in air pollution exposure. To test the impact of climate policy implementation choices on air quality equity, we develop a broad range of GHG reduction scenarios that are each consistent with the US Paris Accord target and model the resulting air pollution changes. Using idealized decision criteria, we show that least cost and income-based emission reductions can exacerbate air pollution disparities for communities of color. With a suite of randomized experiments that facilitates exploration of a wider climate policy decision space, we show that disparities largely persist despite declines in average pollution exposure, but that reducing transportation emissions has the most potential to reduce racial inequities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Several streams of research have discussed important aspects of social inequalities and justice in the context of climate, energy, and environmental issues. However, there is often a narrow focus on specific aspects, bearing the risk that tensions and trade-offs for policy are easily overlooked, and sometimes involving a loose, implicit, inconsistent, or uncritical use of the term justice. I argue to clearly separate the empirical analysis of inequalities from their normative assessment, and to adequately consider the large variety of potentially relevant inequalities as well as the variety of justice principles. In support of such an approach, this article suggests categorizations of (1) basic dimensions of social inequality in the context of climate and environment; (2) different social impacts of climate and environmental policies; and (3) different justice principles. The overall aim is to have typologies and an organizing framework at hand that help to systematically identify a broad range of inequalities which can then be discussed against different justice principles. This shall allow a better detection of intersectionality and policy trade-offs as well as broader-based normative judgments in research and in policy assessments (evaluations). Key policy insights To consider social justice in the context of climate policy, it is key to acknowledge the large variety of inequalities along different dimensions and impact categories, including intersectionality and trade-offs. Many claims about (in)justice of a specific policy or a transition do not reflect this variety. Policy impact assessments and evaluations should make a clearer distinction between social change processes and human impacts. Moreover, they should focus on net impacts that account for all relevant drivers, adaptation reactions and feedback loops. The empirical analysis of inequalities should be separated from the normative discussion of their (in)justice implications. For a normative discussion, the wide variety of different justice principles should be acknowledged. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Being among the world's most affected countries by climate change, Pakistan is facing a variety of cases of climate injustice committed by internal and external drivers. Waisbord's referred "Advocate-journalist" model carries a good potential to advocate these injustices to stimulate democratic dialogue among the audience that eventually pushes leadership to make eco-friendly policies. This study critically analyses advocacy journalism coverage of cases of local and regional climate injustice in the editorial contents of mainstream Pakistani newspapers by using the quantitative content analysis method. Results reveal that selected newspapers gave inappropriate coverage to climate injustice issues both in quantity and quality. Besides muddled local and regional climate injustice issues' priorities, editorialists also excessively recommended dirty energy solutions to the policymakers. The final analysis suggests that the findings of climate and energy-related scientific studies were not being reflected in the advocacy journalism contents as well. This failure of "advocate-journalist" model to perform its normative role of potentially advocating the cases of climate injustice with compelling scientific evidence seems to attribute to the political economy of the press or editorial inattention. As a way out of this journalistic lack, Waisbord's endorsed "civic advocacy" groups must intervene to plug the loopholes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite two decades of investment in climate change adaptation knowledge, planning and policy, the Australian policy and scientific community is now at an adaptation impasse, with effective, equitable and timely adaptation rare and negative impacts proliferating as a result. Drawing on Australia as an illustrative and globally relevant case study, we describe and diagnose the adaptation impasse using a novel four-part heuristic – Adaptation as Spectre, Signal, Social and Systems – to characterise adaptation knowledge and action and their evolution over time. We examine the relationship between these adaptation types and argue that an underlying political economy at odds with the demands of adapting to climate change is generating the adaptation impasse. We suggest that to overcome the impasse we need to transform adaptation into a science and practice that is imaginative, pluralist, and caring. • The Adaptation scientific and policy community is at an impasse. • This impasse can be explored through a 4-part heuristic: Spectre, Signal, Social, and Systems. • An underlying political economy at odds with the demands of adapting to climate change is the primary cause of this impasse. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Open Access to Climate Justice science, requires globally equitable access and learning about climate change and all the factors and initiatives involved. These range from the variety of impacts developmental human ecologies throughout history have had on climate and environments for good or ill, through historically-specific climate responsive initiatives for good, to the latest climate intervention policies, strategies, their implementation or not implementation, and incentives for climate justice. For purposes of the pursuit of justice and just and equitable environmental knowledge, in all their complexities, Open Access dynamics is also a crucial catalyst for the empirical research needed for the pursuit of universal human and natural capacity and well-being beyond catastrophic and dystopian scenario building. On this score, this article reviews these focuses and initiatives, the targeted milestones and strategies that the international climate science community together with governmental systems have set and deployed, and the governmental and business and agricultural environmentalities needed to work towards a sustainable earth. In some regions, we require dialogically and analytically planned ecologically interventions, and in some cases forms of social engineering for social equity, socio-economic justice and socioeconomic integration. In others, we require opportunities for renewables and green energy for green living towards transformative green bioeconomies of scale. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Revista Brasileira de Pesquisa em Turismo is the property of Associacao Nacional de Pesquisa e Pos-Graduacao em Turismo and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

"Clean Air and Good Jobs: U.S. Labor and the Struggle for Climate Justice" by Todd E. Vachon is a valuable resource for understanding organized labor's perspectives on climate change and the transition to renewable energy. The book challenges the simplistic narrative of Jobs versus the Environment, presenting a more nuanced view of labor's interests and motivations. Vachon provides typologies that classify different factions within the labor movement, revealing varying levels of alignment with the Clean Air and Good Jobs frame. The book also highlights promising opportunities at the local level for renewable energy projects and raises questions about reducing the cost of infrastructure projects in the United States. However, the book does not extensively discuss economic perspectives or the potential impact of carbon taxes or tariffs. [Extracted from the article]

This issue of the IDS Bulletin brings together a range of empirically grounded studies that add to - and challenge - contemporary debates on climate and environmental justice. Despite a growing focus on justice dimensions of climate and environmental change, we argue that there are still 'blind spots' in mainstream debates that warrant increased attention. In this brief introduction, we point to three in particular: first, a persistent failure to recognise diverse contexts and knowledges; second, a continuing failure to sufficiently appreciate the deep-seated contestations around climate and environmental justice; and third, the risks associated with 'recovery' and 'emergency' mindsets driving climate and environmental policy agendas. The articles in this collection illustrate and exemplify these issues in different ways and from a variety of methodological, philosophical, and interdisciplinary approaches and positionalities. We argue for a reframing of climate and environmental justice debates and suggest some key principles to make these 'hidden' aspects more visible in policy and practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In order to still be able to meet the targets of the Paris Agreement, global net greenhouse gas emissions must be reduced to zero by the middle of the century. One decisive step towards this goal will be phasing out coal. The UK has led the way as one of the first countries to not only phase out coal by 2024, but also set a net zero target for 2050. Based on 22 expert interviews, we analyse which objectives, actors, and contextual factors were relevant for the two decisions, and which continuities emerge in UK climate policy. We find that the coal phase-out was not primarily driven by the decision to phase out coal in 2015, but by policies (e.g., the CO 2 price) and other contextual factors (e.g., the old coal fleet) that were not initially associated with the phase-out. The recommendations by the Committee on Climate Change, a general political mood calling for more climate protection, and the Conservative Party's desire to show climate protection ambitions played an important role in the net zero decision. Continuities driving both decisions can be seen in the relevance of scientific expertise in UK politics, strong social movements, favourable cost arguments, and a political consensus emerging among the relevant political parties. From a climate justice perspective, however, industrialised nations such as the UK should become carbon neutral sooner than 2050, given the historical responsibility for carbon emissions and economic preconditions that countries in the Global South do not have. • The UK was a frontrunner in adopting a coal phase-out for 2024 and a net zero target for 2050. • The political economy context of both decisions is characterised by three main objectives relating to the "energy trilemma." • The decline in coal was initiated by earlier policies (e.g. the CO 2 price) rather than by the coal phase-out decision itself. • The net zero decision was driven by public protests, a cross-party consensus and Theresa May's desire to secure her legacy. • Both processes show the relevance of scientific advice, political consensus, and public protests for UK climate policy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Justice and responsibility are central notions shaping the international climate negotiations. However, countries have different perspectives on how to translate these concepts into solutions for climate change. In this process, actors such as the European Union (EU) play a central role, by trying to persuade other large greenhouse gas (GHG) emitters to take on their (historical) responsibilities and by supporting developing countries. At the same time, China and India have become central actors in international climate negotiations. Due to their rapid economic growth and rising GHG emissions, their climate action is crucial for achieving global goals, while their historical emissions are very different from those of Western countries. To shed light on the EU's perspective on climate justice, and the particular role of China and India therein, this article analyses Members of European Parliament's (MEPs) narratives in plenary debates on foreign climate policy between 1996 and 2019. MEPs' views contribute to shaping the EU's position on the topic, but also provide useful insights into the political dynamics of the debate. The paper finds that climate justice is mentioned in less than half of the MEPs' speeches, but that its salience increased over time and became more diverse in terms of different dimensions of climate justice. We also uncover that MEPs' positions on China and India evolved with the rise in their emissions, becoming increasingly critical over time. However, there is a significant variance amongst political groups' positions, between those on the right and the left end of the political spectrum. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Climate change has been socially constructed crisscrossed by public and private interests, asymmetries and world-view conflicts. When it comes to the legitimacy of norms to address the complexities of social conditions of vulnerability and effective actions to fulfil distributive and climate justice principles, climate change still faces a discrepancy between political announcements and incongruous practices of international actors. While analysing the cases of China and the European Union, we point out contradictions stemming from their policy goals guided by strategic interests. From a global climate justice perspective, we analyze recent power dynamics that operate at two levels: first, economic relations and negotiations between Brazil and the two poles of power, considering the scenario of socio-environmental injustice and climate insecurity; second, policy practices of both global players in climate governance, bearing in mind the notions of climate justice and development as conceptual guides to understand when and where contradictions emerge. To do so, this article is structured around three sections: (i) a brief historical account of China's and the EU's roles in international climate policy; (ii) their legacies in climate governance and the inextricable relationship between their normative behaviour and their development objectives; (iii) an overview of the signing of the strategic memorandum of understanding for economic and trade agreement between Mercosur and the EU in 2019, as well as Sino-Brazilian relations facilitating investments and trade in multiple segments vis-à-vis the most recent multifaceted backlash in Brazil's socio-environmental and climate policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Adverse health outcomes caused by extreme heat represent the most direct human health threat associated with the warming of the Earth's climate. Socioeconomic, demographic, health, land cover, and temperature determinants contribute to heat vulnerability; however, nationwide patterns of residential and race/ethnicity disparities in heat vulnerability in the United States are poorly understood. This study aimed to develop a Heat Vulnerability Index (HVI) for the United States; to assess differences in heat vulnerability across geographies that have experienced historical and/or contemporary forms of marginalization; and to quantify HVI by race/ethnicity. Principal component analysis was used to calculate census tract level HVI scores based on the 2019 population characteristics of the United States. Differences in HVI scores were analyzed across the Home Owners' Loan Corporation (HOLC) "redlining" grades, the Climate and Economic Justice Screening Tool (CEJST) disadvantaged versus non‐disadvantaged communities, and race/ethnicity groups. HVI scores were calculated for 55,267 U.S. census tracts. Mean HVI scores were 17.56, 18.61, 19.45, and 19.93 for HOLC grades "A"–"D," respectively. CEJST‐defined disadvantaged census tracts had a significantly higher mean HVI score (19.13) than non‐disadvantaged tracts (16.68). The non‐Hispanic African American or Black race/ethnicity group had the highest HVI score (18.51), followed by Hispanic or Latino (18.19). Historically redlined and contemporary CEJST disadvantaged census tracts and communities of color were found to be associated with increased vulnerability to heat. These findings can help promote equitable climate change adaptation policies by informing policymakers about the national distribution of place‐ and race/ethnicity‐based disparities in heat vulnerability. Plain Language Summary: As the Earth's climate warms, extreme heat is the most direct threat to human health. Due to various socioeconomic, demographic, health, and environmental factors, some individuals and populations are more vulnerable to adverse health events caused by extreme heat. Publicly available data were obtained for each of these factors, and statistical analysis yielded a quantitative measure of heat vulnerability for 55,267 U.S. census tracts. Of these census tracts, those that have experienced historical and/or contemporary forms of marginalization were associated with increased vulnerability to heat. Additionally, non‐White race/ethnicity groups were associated with increased vulnerability to heat and were overrepresented in the census tracts with the highest vulnerability. These results can inform policymakers of the places and race/ethnicity groups most vulnerable to heat, and can therefore be used to develop equity‐promoting climate change adaptation policies. Key Points: Historically "redlined" and contemporary Climate and Economic Justice Screening Tool disadvantaged communities were found to be associated with increased vulnerability to heatCommunities of color were associated with increased vulnerability to heat and were overrepresented in the most vulnerable census tractsIdentifying place and race/ethnicity‐based disparities in heat vulnerability can help promote equitable climate change adaptation policies [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Concern around the employment impacts of climate mitigation policies can be a contentious and politized issue, with potentially limiting implications for climate action. It persists despite a significant ex ante literature that suggests that aggregate effects will most likely be limited and net positive. This review analyses 60 papers assessing the employment impacts of climate policies ex post, in 20 countries and 2 country groups. Eight broad mitigation policies are covered: (1) emissions trading, (2) carbon taxes, (3) feed‐in tariffs, renewable energy (4) procurement and (5) deployment, (6) green economy/jobs, (7) environmental regulation, and (8) other policies and regulations. The analysis confirms that employment impacts tend to be modest and net positive or neutral, but reveals that distributional outcomes can be uneven, disadvantaging certain groups and at times reinforcing existing inequalities. Additionally, lower quality jobs or weak labor market regulations may decrease the attractiveness of jobs created or increase job transition costs. These findings provide some justification for increased focus on how climate policies can ensure a "just transition of the workforce and the creation of decent work and quality jobs" stipulated in the Paris Agreement, but also suggest that climate action should not be delayed for fear of widespread negative employment impacts. Ex post assessments offer an important lens into the determinants of climate policy employment outcomes and should be advanced and harnessed in support of accelerated and just action. This article is categorized under:Economics of Mitigation > Climate EconomicsSocial Justice and the Politics of Development > Climate and Development [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Climate change is one of the most important ethical issues of our time. Urban scholars and policymakers now recognise the need to address justice concerns associated with cities' responses to climate change. However, little empirical research has examined whether and how cities have integrated justice into climate mitigation planning. Here, we show that large cities in the US are increasingly attending to justice in their climate action plans and that the recognition of structural and historical injustices is becoming more common. We demonstrate that justice is articulated differently across mitigation sectors, uncover local characteristics that may impact cities' level of engagement with justice, and introduce four policy tools that pioneer cities have developed to operationalise just climate policies on the ground. More attention to justice in policy implementation and evaluation is needed as cities continue to move toward just urban transitions. Climate justice is rising: large cities in the U.S. are increasingly integrating justice into their climate mitigation plans and pioneer cities are developing tools to operationalize just climate policies on the ground. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is timely to investigate how essential workers may be incorporated into existing understandings of just transition, and whether and how such workers have been addressed in discussions on just transition under the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). In so doing, one might better understand the relationship of essential workers to the achievement of the Paris goals, and assess entry points for making such connections explicit. Three approaches to the concept of just transition, drawn from a study conducted by Dimitris Stevis and Romain Felli, provide a useful reference point for how the concept of a just transition is understood by different actors. This paper extends the framework to consider how, under each of the three orientations, essential workers may be relevant to a just transition. The paper then applies the framework to the corpus of decisions, reports, declarations, and submissions that make up the written record of discussions on just transition taking place under the UNFCCC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Because contemporary climate change is driven by anthropogenic forcings, it is necessary to factor humanity's impact into climate models. Given that not all humans are responsible for current climate change, and that many people are already unequally impacted by climate change, it is necessary to develop a more nuanced understanding of the human in climate modeling. Without this nuance, future climate policy, as determined by climate modeling, will potentially replicate historic inequalities that are already present in attributions to and impacts from a rapidly changing climate. This paper begins by briefly outlining how climate models are built, and the ways they are used in climate politics. Then, borrowing methods from climate modelers, this paper turns towards Sylvia Wynter's work to model the human. The ultimate aim of this paper is to think more expansively and creatively about how genres of humanity can better be represented in climate science and policy with an eye towards more just futures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

When President Biden took office in January 2021, it was widely expected that he would reverse Trump-era policies and take steps to address climate change, racial justice, and rising inequality. Then-candidate Biden made strong commitments to addressing the climate crisis, including stating that "the Green New Deal is a crucial framework for meeting the climate challenges we face." But with the parties evenly split in the Senate, this meant legislating ambitious climate policy would be difficult. This article analyzes the Biden Administration's climate and environmental justice initiatives in its first year. The Biden administration successfully advanced some environmental policy through legislation but relied primarily on ambitious executive orders and with a particular focus on integrating equity and justice considerations into climate and environmental policy, while encountering challenges from Republican state officials. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although states continue to work together under the UNFCCC, it is increasingly apparent that not enough is being done, and that a just response to climate change is not being pursued. This paper asks whether non-state actors, such as cities, corporations, and non-governmental organisations might, by contrast, offer hope for such a response to emerge. Using the city of Bristol as an empirical case study, the paper puts forward that non-state actors can not only lower emissions and/or contribute to adaptation efforts, but more importantly have the potential to significantly shift the context of climate change action and create space for systemic change. They therefore offer room for cautious optimism. • Cosmopolitan climate justice centred analysis of non-state actors. • Non-state actors offer hope for a just response to climate change. • Non-state actors can push for systemic change in climate change policy. • City of Bristol, UK, used as an empirical case study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article focuses on how the construction of 'migrant' and 'refugee' as a social threat is involved in the specific ways in which climate change induced migration is communicated in Western media. It puts a spotlight on a major drawback of climate policies: the failure to make room for the issue of climate migration. The article explores how a climate justice frame would allow the evolution of conceptual perspectives that are more conducive to safeguarding vulnerable communities' rights and interests. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Energy policies have the potential to create an uneven distribution of benefits and responsibilities among different cities, but there is limited empirical research on this topic. We first employ the difference-in-differences (DID) model to assess the average impact of the ETS policy on the local economy. Then, we utilize the changes-in-changes (CIC) model to examine the distributional influence of the ETS policy on gross domestic product (GDP) across cities in China. The result shows that the ETS policy can effectively promote urban economic development. Moreover, mechanism analysis shows that the regressive beneficial effects of the ETS policy on innovation can surpass its regressive negative impact on foreign investment and industrial structure, further contributing to a regressive positive influence on GDP. This study indicates that the ETS policy could widen the gap between developing and developed cities, which raises the equity concerns of energy policy efforts. • The changes-in-changes model is used to investigate the distributional effect of the ETS policy on economic development. • The ETS policy can effectively promote economic development. • This effect is more pronounced in cities with higher GDP due to the regressive positive influence of the ETS on innovation. • The ETS policy exacerbates economic disparities across cities, undermining climate justice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many climate change ethicists argue wealthy nations have duties of justice to combat climate change. However, Posner and Weisbach disagree because there is a poor fit between the principles of justice and the problem of climate change. I argue in this paper that Posner and Weisbach's argument relies on what Judith Shklar calls "the normal model of justice," the view that injustice results when principles are violated. Applying Shklar's critique of normal justice, I argue that Posner and Weisbach's argument limits injustice to include complaints that match rules and principles, shielding the unjust from responsibility and assuming falsely that judgments about injustice can be made from a singular perspective. Drawing on Shklar, this paper develops an account of climate change injustice as a complement to mainstream climate ethicists. On this account, injustice results from indifference and the voices of those impacted by climate change and climate change policy have priority. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Climate justice has provided a normative justification for international climate change policy, but how it is to be pursued and transmitted in policymaking and policy implementation remains controversial. This study builds a theoretical link between the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM), an international carbon trading scheme, and local sustainable development in China. This article uses a panel data set of the attributes of 4,429 CDM projects hosted in China from 2004 to 2015, together with socio-economic factors at the provincial level. The study's findings support the contention that the dual objectives of carbon emission reduction and sustainable development benefits cannot be fulfilled simultaneously, though technology may remedy this trade-off, and the effect of the CDM on local sustainable development varies across Chinese regions. This article helps elucidate the localizing process of climate justice and contributes to justice theories and the literature while aiding public managers and practitioners in international climate governance. Emission reductions for investment countries of CDM were achieved at the expense of local SD benefits in China. CDM exacerbated the differences among Chinese regions in achieving SD goals due to uneven economic and social conditions. Technology innovation can remedy the negative impact of CDM, governments thus should attach importance to technology and use CDM projects to accelerate technological transfers and innovation. Local governments should be encouraged to formulate and use local policies and processes to guide actions on CDM and to ensure their consistence with the prospect of the international mechanism by including the essence of justice. Developing countries should improve their institutional or organizational capacity to promote sustainable social development and to better tackle climate change. Investment of CDM projects or other international mechanisms should expand the budget expenditure, not limited to simple carbon trade, for improving the climate adaptation capacity of developing countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article addresses the broader question of the special issue by reflecting on the coloniality of knowledge production in a context of global climate governance. Drawing on the rationale of the special issue, we highlight key dynamics in which knowledge shape climate policies and propose a decolonial approach at the nexus of academic knowledge production and policy formation by accounting for diverse ways of knowing climate justice. To this end, the article asks how to develop a decolonial approach to researching climate justice in order to identify the meaning-in-use of climate justice by affected people in what we describe as sensitive regions of the Arctic and the Mediterranean. To this end, the article develops a research design that accounts for diverse ways of knowing. The article proceeds as follows: first, we will discuss how diverse ways of knowing are related to global climate governance and climate justice; second, we outline our practice-based research framework that addresses research ethics, decolonial approaches and norm contestation; and third, we discuss how our approach can inform not only the co-production of research in climate governance, but also current debates on climate justice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article informs about strategizing movement lawyering for local climate justice policy. Topics include slower-moving crises of inequality and climate change that characterize modern political economy; white-presenting in a profession in which 85 percent of practitioners are white; and figures to action on ending legal Jim Crow segregation, penalizing polluters for poisoning neighborhoods, and other protective policy measures.

This paper considers the limits of adaptation as a concept in global environmental governance and advocacy by examining the climate change policy of the populist Philippine president Rodrigo Duterte. By focusing on heterogenous state responses to the 2018–2019 El Niño drought, I demonstrate how the Duterte administration has worked to achieve a violent vision of climate adaptation through a jarring combination of practices: exhorting the devastating reality of climate change; denigrating multilateral mitigation efforts as colonial injustices; subverting indigenous peoples' land rights; and fostering the extrajudicial assassination of activists. Though Duterte's wider climate change policies are often viewed as a strategic distraction or the isolated product of an erratic populist, I argue that these recent responses to climate change in the Philippines, which fuse decolonial and nationalist sensibilities to confrontational forms of illiberalism, should be examined as part of the larger unfurling of illiberal adaptation politics across Philippine history and the Global South. These politics, and their considerable (though far from total) local resonance, challenge both universalist Western political rationalities and new directions in climate justice movement calling for ontological inclusivity. I highlight the need for a closer examination of the origins, practices and implications of violent adaptions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]