What is Climate Justice?
The concept of climate justice is based on the fact that changes in climate are different around the world, and have a much more devastating consequence in some places than in others. Moreover, the countries which produce the largest total amount of greenhouse gases, and the most greenhouse gases per person, may experience less of the effects than other countries do. As a result, emissions produced from high rates of consumption in industrialised countries have their greatest negative effect in developing or least developed countries.
The World’s Response
Climate change is a global issue because all countries contribute, in varying degrees, to green house gas emissions. Everybody is affected by it and no country can solve the problem on its own.
There are two responses to global climate change:
- Mitigation consists of intervention or policies to reduce the emissions or enhance the sinks of greenhouse gases. It goes to the root of the problem.
- Adaptation consists of adjustments to the changing climate (e.g., acclimatisation in humans and their social, economic, institutional and physical infrastructure) and policies to minimise the predicted impacts of climate change (e.g., building better coastal defenses).