Sites of Struggle in Climate Justice

The United Nations Framework Convention for Climate Change (“UNFCCC”) recognizes Parties’ “common but differentiated responsibilities” in relation to climate change. This operationalises the ‘historical responsibility’ approach toward climate justice, i.e. that the states responsible for the crisis ought to bear the costs (Schlosberger and Collins 2014: 365).

‘Historical responsibility’ has been criticized for attributing blame to a few nations, when most countries embraced the technologies developed in the Industrial Revolution and therefore contributed to historical emissions (Zahar 2022: 213).

The Industrial Revolution itself was funded by colonialism (OpenDemocracy 2018: 2). European states used those technologies to develop economically and to further slake their imperialistic ambitions (Zahar 2022: 228). With the spoils of colonialism, and greater wealth, came larger energy footprints (Oswald et al 2020).

We must address not only responsibility for historical emissions, but for the actions of former colonizers and current settler-colonial states, which contributed to and still influence the slower development and heightened climate vulnerability of less developed countries and Indigenous communities.

The UNFCCC frames climate adaptation as changes made to systems or processes in reaction to climate impacts (UNFCCC). This facilitates technological adaptation but ignores underlying injustices which are multiplied by climate impacts (Fisher 2015: 80, Pelling 2011). If climate justice continues to be treated as a matter between nations, funding and assistance distributed to national governments may not reach local sites of struggle (Fisher 2015: 80).

Stakeholders must channel adaptation funding and assistance directly to affected communities and recognize local communities as sites of climate injustice.

(250 words)

References:

Fisher, S. (2015). ‘The emerging geographies of climate justice’. The Geographical Journal, Vol. 181, No. 1, March 2015, pp. 73-82, doi: 10.1 1 1 1/geoj. 12078

OpenDemocracy. (2018). ‘Colonialism can’t be forgotten - it’s still destroying peoples and our planet’. ProQuest. Oct 18, 2018. https://www.proquest.com/magazines/colonialism-can-t-be-forgotten-s-still-destroying/docview/2121705020/se-2.

Oswald, Y., Owen, A. & Steinberger, J.K. (2020). ‘Large inequality in international and intranational energy footprints between income groups and across consumption categories’. Nat Energy 5, 231–239 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41560-020-0579-8

Pelling, M. (2011). ‘Adaptation to climate change: from resilience to transformation’. Routledge, London

Schlosberger, D. and L.B. Collins. (2014). ‘From environmental to climate justice: climate change the discourse of environmental justice’. Wiley interdisciplinary reviews. Climate change. 2014, 5(3), pp 359-374

UNFCCC. NAP Central. Glossary of Key Terms. https://www4.unfccc.int/sites/NAPC/Pages/glossary.aspx

UNFCCC. ‘What do adaptation to climate change and climate resilience mean?’ https://unfccc.int/topics/adaptation-and-resilience/the-big-picture/what-do-adaptation-to-climate-change-and-climate-resilience-mean

Zahar, A. (2022). ‘“Historical Responsibility” for Climate Change in Historical Perspective’. Essays in Economic & Business History. 2022, 40: 210-232