Climate justice means ensuring that people everywhere are safe from danger and free from suffering due to climate change. Those most vulnerable to climate change today are the world’s poorest groups, since they lack the resources and means to cope with its impacts. It is also a clear injustice that these groups suffer the brunt of the impacts of climate change without any responsibility for having caused it. 99% of the casualties due to climate change occur in developing countries, but 50 of the world’s least developed nations account for less than 1% of greenhouse gas emissions that are the main cause of climate change.

Ensuring the poor can live in safety means providing substantial additional support to these communities, a responsibility that falls to major polluters. But ultimately people everywhere are vulnerable to climate change – around 4 billion people in total. And unless action is taken, young people around the world today will be forced to live out their lives in danger. Urgent action is essential for doing justice to the basic needs of all people.

 

The Forum first engaged with the topic of climate justice as the opening debate of its first main annual event, the 2008 Forum. Entitled “Climate Justice in a Shared Global Ecosphere”, and chaired by Mary Robinson, the debate concluded with a call for an alliance of leading people that could advocate for a just response to climate change. Kofi Annan announced his conviction to establish a Global Alliance for Climate Justice at the closure of the event.

The Forum has since worked together with key public figures and civil society organizations to establish the foundations of this Alliance. It is our hope that it will ultimately come to involve anybody concerned by climate justice and willing to promote its cause.

The Forum also brought together an expert working group to develop a set of simple Climate Justice Guidelines. These Guidelines were the subject of the high-level Climate Justice Dialogue the Forum hosted together with the University of Pretoria in South Africa in February 2009. The Guidelines have since been updated to “Key Points on Climate Justice.”(pdf, 2.51MB) 

 

Our current work is focused on the negotiations leading to the UN Climate Conference to be held in Copenhagen later this year. The summit is set to agree on a replacement agreement for the Kyoto Protocol, whose main provisions expire in 2012.

We believe that Copenhagen is the international community’s best opportunity for tackling climate change. Many people are concerned about climate change, but political leadership for a just agreement and awareness about how much is at stake are still very low.

The Forum works together with the major communications firm Euro RSCG for the development of a comprehensive global campaign for climate justice targeted towards Copenhagen. The Campaign aims to raise global awareness of the historic opportunity presented at Copenhagen and to trigger mass support for a just outcome there.

We also collaborate closely with Oxfam, Greenpeace, WWF, Avaaz, 350.org, the World Council of Churches, the Global Campaign for Climate Action, and other civil society partners.

 

• Key Points on Climate Justice (pdf, 2.51 MB)
  

• Press Release, 25 June 2008 (pdf, 29 KB)
  

• Press Release, 29 January 2009 (pdf, 21 KB)
  

• Press Release, 18 February 2009 (pdf, 133 KB)