A call for climate justice

No other crisis in human history is as all-encompassing and existential as the crisis caused by climate change. The effects of climate change are already beginning to be felt around the world. However, they are found mostly in fragments, in the form of natural phenomena such as scorching summers, deadly floods, or violent cyclones. To the general public, these events appear to be isolated, local, and natural, with little room for human intervention. But it is undeniable that climate change is literally caused by fossil fuels by human activities, and today it takes the form of an impending collective catastrophe.

However, efforts are being made to halt further increases in global temperatures and mitigate the effects of climate change through policy interventions and technology transitions. What has received relatively little attention in the response to climate change is a concern for social justice. Whatever is directly or implicitly linked to collective life and well-being cannot afford to ignore its relationship to social justice.

The concept of social justice is based on the idea of ​​treating all members of society fairly and equitably. In practice, social justice is understood as social arrangements that allow everyone in a society to have equal access to resources, rights, and opportunities. However, the real world is full of discrimination and inequality, which appears in countless ways in daily life.

Issues of social justice in the context of climate change have become more important as they not only exacerbate existing inequalities but also have the potential to give rise to new forms of inequality and injustice. We are already seeing that climate change will increase competition for resources and its impacts will be felt disproportionately within and across countries. The poor, vulnerable and marginalized are the first and worst victims of this competition. By making pervasive inequality more visible, it may unleash a kind of social Darwinism. Those who are unable to cope with these changes, or those who are less able to adapt, may eventually perish. Nevertheless, it should also be recognized that climate change is not as purely natural as it appears, nor is it guided by Darwin's principles of natural selection. Rather, its anthropogenic character should enable us to understand climate change, both its causes and consequences, in the context of social justice.

live on the edge

Climate change will further accentuate existing inequalities, especially the economic inequalities that divide the world into rich and poor. Poor people do not have the means to withstand the changes caused by climate change. Economically, socially and even geographically, they are far more vulnerable and far more exposed to the effects of climate change. Climate change will lead to more poverty for them and more social unrest. The recent frequency of violent civil wars in African countries is not solely due to political control. Life and livelihood insecurity caused by climate change is one of the key factors. The irony is that the biggest victims of climate change are those who contribute the least to its cause. Historically, poor people and poor countries have emitted less carbon dioxide than developed countries, which have prospered at the expense of the environment. But the way carbon regulations are currently imposed will disproportionately impact poor people and countries. However, this does not mean that poor countries should be allowed to emit as much carbon into the environment. What is needed is that climate action is leading to social injustice by unfairly punishing some people for the “bad deeds” of others, and the harms of this injustice. This means paying serious attention to the question of whether people are being appropriately listened to and assisted.

Calls for climate justice therefore naturally emerge as legitimate demands. Climate justice shifts the focus from identifying climate change due to rising temperatures and melting glaciers to its impact on human life. But this alone is not enough. To achieve climate justice, it is important to understand that the effects of climate change will not affect us all in the same way. But differences in the experience of climate change are not limited to divisions between rich and poor. Gender, race, tribe, community, culture – all these factors require a more nuanced and comprehensive approach to climate action. Therefore, the crisis posed by a uniform but uneven vision of human progress cannot be cured by a similarly uniform response. Rather than reiterating old injustices, climate action guided by principles of social justice may offer an opportunity to undo previous wrongdoings.

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