Quote: "Climate justice is a concept that addresses the just division, fair sharing, and equitable distribution of the burdens of climate change and its mitigation and responsibilities to deal with climate change."
The principle that those who are most vulnerable to the effects of climate change should not bear the burden of addressing it, and that global efforts to combat climate change should be ethical and equitable.
Climate Change: The study of long-term changes in the Earth's climate system, including changes in temperature, precipitation, and weather patterns, often attributed to human activities that release greenhouse gases into the atmosphere.
Global Warming: The observed and projected long-term increase in the Earth's average temperature due to the increasing concentration of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, primarily carbon dioxide from burning fossil fuels.
Greenhouse Gases: Gases in the Earth's atmosphere that trap heat and warm the planet, including carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide.
Emissions: The release of greenhouse gases, such as carbon dioxide, into the atmosphere, typically from burning of fossil fuels such as coal, oil, and gas.
Carbon Footprint: The total amount of greenhouse gases that are emitted by an individual, organization, or product, expressed in equivalent tons of carbon dioxide.
Climate Justice: The fair and equitable distribution of the costs and benefits of climate change policies and actions, particularly those that affect vulnerable communities and future generations.
Climate Adaptation: The process of preparing for and adapting to the impacts of climate change, such as rising sea levels, more frequent and severe weather events, and increased heatwaves.
Climate Mitigation: The process of reducing greenhouse gas emissions, typically through activities like renewable energy, energy efficiency, and carbon capture and storage.
Renewable Energy: Energy sources that are replenished naturally and do not produce greenhouse gas emissions, such as solar, wind, hydroelectric, and geothermal energy.
Energy Efficiency: The practice of using less energy for the same activities, typically achieved through better technology, building design, and behavior change.
Fossil Fuels: Nonrenewable resources that release greenhouse gases when burned, including coal, oil, and natural gas.
Clean Energy: Energy sources that produce little to no greenhouse gas emissions, including renewable energy and nuclear energy.
Climate Science: The study of the Earth's climate and climate change, often involving interdisciplinary research across natural and social sciences.
Climate Policy: The laws, regulations, and incentives that govern activities related to climate change, such as emissions reductions, renewable energy targets, and adaptation planning.
Carbon Pricing: A policy tool that puts a price on carbon emissions, either through a tax or a cap-and-trade system, to incentivize emissions reductions.
Climate Finance: The financial flows and mechanisms used to support climate change mitigation and adaptation activities, often targeting vulnerable communities and developing countries.
Sustainable Development: Development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs, often involving economic, social, and environmental considerations.
Environmental Racism: The impacts of climate change disproportionately affect marginalized communities and people of color due to existing social and economic inequalities.
Intergenerational equity: The idea that current generations have a responsibility to future generations to address the impacts of climate change and prevent further harm to the environment.
Climate debt: The idea that developed countries have a historical responsibility to address climate change due to the significant contribution of industrialization to greenhouse gas emissions.
Climate refuge: Addressing the human rights implications of climate displacement, as people are forced to migrate from their homes as a result of climate change.
Just Transition: Addressing the social and economic impacts of transitioning to a low-carbon economy, including ensuring that workers and communities dependent on fossil fuels are not left behind.
Quote: "Climate justice is encompassing 'a set of rights and obligations, which corporations, individuals and governments have towards those vulnerable people who will be in a way significantly disproportionately affected by climate change.'"
Quote: "If there were a 2oC temperature rise by 2100, roughly 1 billion primarily poor people would die as a result of primarily wealthy people's greenhouse gas emissions."
Quote: "Justice, fairness, and equity are not completely identical, but they are in the same family of related terms and are often used interchangeably in negotiations and politics."
Quote: "Applied ethics, research, and activism using these terms approach anthropogenic climate change as an ethical, legal, and political issue."
Quote: "Climate justice examines concepts such as equality, human rights, collective rights, and the historical responsibilities for climate change."
Quote: "A report of the United Nations Environment Programme identified 894 ongoing legal actions worldwide."
Quote: "Conceptions of climate justice can be grouped along the lines of procedural justice and distributive justice."
Quote: "A main factor in the increased popularity and consideration of climate justice was the rise of grassroots movements."
Quote: "They might also be further disadvantaged by responses to climate change which might reproduce or exacerbate existing inequalities, which has been labeled the 'triple injustices' of climate change."
Quote: "Some climate justice approaches promote transformative justice where advocates focus on how vulnerability to climate change reflects various structural injustices in society."
Quote: "Other activists argue that failure to address social implications of climate change mitigation transitions could result in profound economic and social tensions and delay necessary changes."
Quote: "Other conceptions frame climate justice in terms of the need to curb climate change within certain limits, like the Paris Agreement targets of 1.5 °C."
Quote: "Ways that reduce greenhouse gas emissions in a socially just way – called a 'just transition' – are possible, preferable, in better agreement with contemporary human rights, fairer, more ethical as well as possibly more effective."
Quote: "Conceptions of climate justice can be grouped along the lines of procedural justice, which emphasizes fair, transparent, and inclusive decision making."
Quote: "Historically marginalized communities, such as low income, indigenous communities, and communities of color often face the worst consequences of climate change."
Quote: "Climate justice has been seen as approaching anthropogenic climate change as an ethical, legal, and political issue."
Quote: "Climate justice encompasses 'a set of rights and obligations, which corporations, individuals, and governments have towards those vulnerable people who will be in a way significantly disproportionately affected by climate change.'"
Quote: "Impacts of climate change on natural ecosystems will be so severe as to preclude the possibility of justice for many generations and populations."
Quote: "At a minimum, priority is placed on ensuring that responses to climate change do not repeat or reinforce existing injustices, which has both distributive justice and procedural justice dimensions."