Climate change is no longer a problem of the future, with more and more people already experiencing its impacts. The effects of climate change are not felt equally, as some countries and communities face far greater risks than others. While governments prepare their next round of national climate plans, officially known as the ¡°Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs)¡±, experts and international organizations are stressing the importance of making these plans not only ambitious but also fair. It is not only the impacts of climate change that are not shared evenly, but also the benefits of solutions. Social and economic inequalities determine who is most vulnerable, so effective climate policy must also address these deeper injustices.
This means putting climate justice at the centre of UN climate processes and the global conversation on climate action, but what does that mean? Here are five key dimensions of climate justice that help explain, focusing on recognitional, procedural, distributive, restorative and transformative justice:
Recognitional justice sees and respects everyone¡¯s identity and needs
People and groups differ, for example, in culture and history, and thus also in how climate change affects them. Recognitional justice calls on decision-makers to listen and value different voices, especially those of Indigenous communities and vulnerable groups when planning climate action. For example, Indigenous Arctic communities depend on sea ice for travel and hunting. Climate change melts that ice, threatening their culture and livelihoods. Recognitional justice means valuing their traditional knowledge in climate decisions and respecting that their relationship to the environment is unique and should be included in solutions. It also addresses exclusion and power imbalances.
Procedural justice ensures a fair process where everyone gets a say
Procedural justice is about how climate decisions are made: it insists that people, especially those most affected by climate change impacts, should have real and meaningful involvement in the design of climate policies. The process should be open, transparent and inclusive instead of merely top-down. A concrete example is when local farmers and women¡¯s groups are invited into climate adaptation planning, so they can help design drought-resilient farming policies.
Distributive justice means fairly sharing burdens and benefits
Distributive justice looks at who gains and who loses from climate change and from the policies meant to fight it. In many countries, wealthy households can afford solar panels or electric cars, while low-income families face higher energy costs, for example. Distributive justice calls for accessible subsidies or community programmes for vulnerable groups, so everyone can benefit from clean energy. Similarly, wealthier nations can help poorer ones adapt to and recover from climate impacts they did not cause. It concerns fairness across groups, places and generations.
Restorative justice requires repairing past harm and compensating where possible
Restorative justice focuses on correcting or healing injustices from the past where climate damage or unfair policies harmed people or places. For instance, small island nations like Tuvalu and Vanuatu are losing land to rising seas caused largely by emissions from richer countries. Restorative justice means financial and moral responsibility, through international funds like the fund for responding to Loss and Damage, to help these nations recover, rebuild and safeguard their futures.
Transformative climate justice calls for us to tackle root causes in the first place
It goes beyond recognizing, including, sharing or repairing and is achieved at the intersection of the other four dimensions. In other words, if you picture the other four dimensions as jigsaw puzzle pieces, transformative climate justice is the final puzzle piece connecting them all. It is about changing the social, economic and political systems that cause climate injustice to begin with. It means tackling root causes such as poverty and unequal access to resources through shifting power and rules, so that climate action not only protects people but also creates fairer societies.
More information about these dimensions and how countries¡¯ Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) address them can be found in this
