Climate Justice is a concept according to which people everywhere deserve to live in safety from climate change; the world’s poor – who are least responsible for climate change - should not suffer the brunt of its impact; and younger and future generations should not have to live out their lives in an increasingly devastated and dangerous environment. The human impact of climate change is felt as environmental changes due to global warming such as rising sea levels, record-breaking storms and severe heat waves, floods and drought occur with increasing frequency. The most dramatic impacts of climate change are expected to occur (and are already being experienced) in the world’s poorest countries, where rights protections are often weak. The effect is also causal and mutually reinforcing. Populations whose rights are poorly protected are likely to be less well-equipped to understand or prepare for climate change effects, less able to lobby effectively for government or international action, and more likely to lack the resources needed to adapt to expected alterations of their environmental and economic situation. A circle links precarious access to natural resources, poor physical infrastructure, weak rights protections, and vulnerability to climate change-related harms. Climate change exacerbates existing inequalities faced by vulnerable groups particularly women, children and the elderly.

Every human being is born equal and has a right to live in a safe environment on this planet.

The world’s poorest groups have contributed least to climate change and should not be allowed to suffer its impacts the most.

The younger and future generations should not be protected from the most dangerous impacts of climate change which grow in time.

Internationally, recognition of the need to differentiate according to socioeconomic parameters is reflected in a range of legal and normative documents, including:

The 1972 Declaration of the United Nations Conference on the Human Environment (also known as the Stockholm Declaration), Principle 23, emphasised the need to consider “the applicability of standards which are valid for the most advanced countries but which may be inappropriate and of unwarranted social cost for the developing countries.”

The 1992 Rio Declaration on Environment and Development, Principle 6, states that “environmental standards, management objectives and priorities should reflect the environmental and developmental context to which they apply,” that “the special situation of developing countries, particularly the least developed and those most environmentally vulnerable, shall be given special priority.” Assistance should be provided to enable the low-carbon transformation of the poor and leave scope for some unavoidable medium-term expansion of emissions among this group. Efforts should be taken to avoid locking out the poor from enjoying modern forms of energy - a scenario that would have a dramatic negative impact on the socio-economic development of these groups.

An underlying principle of Climate Justice is that no nation has the right to pollute, that pollution has a cost, and this cost must be borne by the Polluter. At the 1992 Rio Conference, the polluter-pays principle was incorporated into Agenda 21 and Principle 16 of the Rio Declaration, which states: “Internationalization of International Costs - National authorities should endeavour to promote the internationalization of environmental costs and the use of economic instruments, taking into account the approach that the polluter should, in principle, bear the cost of pollution, with due regard to the public interest and without distorting international trade and investment.”

• Key Points on Climate Justice: Working Paper of the Global Humanitarian Forum [1]

• Tck Tck Tck Time for Climate Justice campaign website