Socioeconomic inequality is now understood to be integrally linked to the climate crisis. Inequalities drive climate change, and inequalities result from climate change. Climate change is an injustice to the underprivileged and aggravates inequality. Inequalities, both within and among nations, block agreements and pathways that could lead to sustainability. This vicious cycle of climate change and socioeconomic inequalities must be broken. As we engage in mitigation, adaptation, and the transition to a low-carbon economy, we must ensure that inequalities are substantially reduced.
I. Climate change affects people in very unequal ways, thus compounding inequalities.
Poor and marginalized people suffer the consequences of environmental degradation more directly and severely. Those most likely to bear the brunt of climate change are those who suffer from disadvantage or discrimination, whether on the basis of income, wealth, gender, race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, gender identity, health, ability, legal or migration status, or other characteristics or identities. Inequalities are compounded when poor and marginalized people are forced to live in locations more severely impacted by climate change, and vulnerable to storms, flooding, drought, landslides, or other environmental impacts. Inequalities are compounded when poor communities do not have the resources to respond to disasters or adapt readily to climate change.
Women and girls are particularly impacted. Women and girls are more likely to care for children, the sick and the elderly, to prepare food, to fetch water, to work the soil. All of these activities become more difficult as the climate degenerates. Furthermore, when climate impacts destroy economic opportunities at home, women and girls are less able to travel safely to seek new opportunities.
Despite suffering more severe impacts from climate change, poor and marginalized people generate significantly less impact on the environment as measured by standardized metrics such as consumption or carbon output. This is true for both poorer nations and for poorer socioeconomic classes within countries. It is unethical that those who do less harm should suffer more.
People who lack the necessary economic resources, knowledge, and political clout are disempowered and unable to demand necessary changes. Often, despite enormous and sophisticated grassroots or civil society efforts, the power differentials between those who stand to benefit from environmentally damaging economic activity, and those who are affected by it, are simply too great to overcome.
A vicious cycle exists. People on the lower rungs of the socioeconomic ladder experience environmental disparities which perpetuate and compound economic difficulties. Environmental disparities may produce debilitating health impacts; economic and human losses associated with weather disasters; loss of agricultural capacity; the need to travel long distances to obtain suitable water resources; and the erosion of critical ecosystem services for resource-dependent and rural agrarian communities. People who have lost access to environmental resources have fragile livelihoods, and are less able to respond to shocks and environmental stresses.
II. Inequality is a key driver of the climate crisis.
Inequality lies at the root of unsustainable behaviors. Inequality promotes overconsumption by making it socially acceptable for some people to have far more than others. Inequality provides incentives for overconsumption by tying consumption to social status. The greater the level of inequality, the greater the incentive to elevate one’s status through consumption. Current consumption patterns put excessive pressure on the planet’s dwindling resource base, as an elite minority unjustly appropriates ecological space. This excessive consumption usurps natural and economic resources, driving up prices for basic goods such as food, housing, healthcare and education, thus directly impacting those who do not have enough.
Our economic system drives the climate crisis, while locking in and aggravating inequalities. Its growth paradigm promotes ever-greater impacts on the environment; its short-term incentives and profit motives systematically contradict the sustainable satisfaction of human needs. Elites make decisions on behalf of their own interests rather than the public interest, while the benefits of development and climate adaptation aid and investment are often channeled to narrowly-held business interests. Financialization of the economy provides additional perverse incentives that run counter to sustainability. Commodification, both of nature and of people as labor, destroys emotional and social incentives that would otherwise serve to protect communities and their environments.Moreover, current economic pricing mechanisms fail to include “externalized” costs of social and environmental impacts. These distorted prices in turn distort consumption patterns, aggravating resource depletion and pollution. Meanwhile, the economic analysis of climate change focuses on aggregate costs and benefits, largely ignoring distributional implications.
III. Inequality blocks needed solutions to the climate crisis.
Finally, inequalities block progress toward solutions and agreements to address climate change. Overwhelmed with social crisis, breakdown and conflict caused by inequalities, communities and societies cannot turn their energy and resources towards climate-friendly technologies and the transition to environmental sustainability.
Socioeconomic inequalities allow aid, resources, and other benefits to be diverted to elite families and business concerns, often fossil-fuel based. Meanwhile, the general public, including especially the poor, are often left suffering the social, economic and environmental consequences of profitable but unsustainable development. Adding insult to injury, the public is often left holding huge sovereign debts, resulting in the reduction of urgently needed social benefits. As inequality grows, there are many more people who do not have the resources to implement the needed conversion to sustainable economic activities.
Socioeconomic inequalities often complicate the implementation of local sustainability mechanisms, such as Payment for Ecosystem Services (PES), Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest
By creating lack of trust and social fragmentation, socioeconomic inequality blocks cooperation and collaborative problem-solving. Communities and nations are far less likely to make the necessary agreements to address climate change when they are aware that they do not share common interests, benefits, and responsibilities. Even if they were to make an agreement, the parties would not feel that the allocation of benefits and responsibilities was fair, thereby undermining cooperation.
Any initiative to address climate change and climate justice must place inequality at the center of the discussion. Current approaches to climate change have been largely technocratic in nature, and proposed “green economy” solutions which retain the same set of incentives and structures seem likely to worsen the existing scenario. Climate justice begins at the point where we recognize that current economic models, which generate ever-growing inequalities and look to more economic growth as a solution, will not provide transformative change. We cannot solve the climate crisis utilizing the same structures that created the crisis in the first place. Around the world, citizens sense the futility of “more of the same,” and governments are aware that they will face more protests andcivil disobedience if they do not demonstrate their political will for meaningful transition.
We call on the world’s governments, nations and communities to –
* Recognize the importance of common but differentiated responsibilities, whereby developed countries (synonymous with high emission countries) should have a moral and legal obligation to support developing countries in adapting to climate change, and all countries should support their own most vulnerable communities in adapting to climate change;
* Recognize that any budget of allowed greenhouse gas emissions must take into account the following four points: historical responsibility, equitable ecological footprint, capabilities (technological and financial), and state of development (purchasing power parity);
* Recognize the need for altered patterns of consumption, whereby those consuming in excess of what they need will reduce their consumption, while those without enough to meet their needs will consume more, achieving a net reduction;
* Recognize within-country differences in greenhouse gas emissions, as measured by the carbon inequality index, as well as within-country differences in the extent to which people’s needs are met;
* Commit to making the inequality and injustice dimensions of the climate crisis a central element of the COP 21 climate accords and subsequent policies;
* Commit to ensuring that the full benefits of climate protection, technology transfer and CDM programs are being channeled to the appropriate people and communities – not to enrich particular business interests and contractors;
* Commit to ensuring a more equitable global distribution of wealth and resources, including the CO2 emissions budget, as well as the more equitable distribution of capacity to respond to risks;
* Commit to providing the economic resources, technologies, and expertise that will empower developing countries, and less privileged communities within countries, to protect themselves from climate impacts, to adapt to a changing climate as necessary, and to move successfully along a new, more innovative, efficient and sustainable development pathway;
* Commit to climate finance mechanisms that bridge the gaps in capacity between nations, and that empower marginalized communities to implement their own priorities in responding to climate change;
* Commit to developing and implementing an urgently-needed global resettlement plan to take in all refugees of conflict and economic collapse – which are due, in part, to the impacts of a worsening climate;
* Commit to fully respecting human rights throughout the process of responding to climate change, including but not limited to the fulfillment of various international conventions and declarations on human rights;
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Adopted 28 September 2015 by Initiative for Equality (IfE) through a formal decision of the Board of Directors and the Board of Advisors.
Members of the ad hoc committee drafting this statement include the following:
- Carmit Lubanov, former IfE Advisor, and director of the Association of Environmental Justice in Israel (AEJI), which has made climate justice their main field of research and policy since 2010.
- Dr. Roberto Guimaraes, IfE Director, and former Chief of Social and Policy Analysis at UN HQ in New York, during which position he authored the groundbreaking report “The Inequality Predicament – 2005 Report on the World Social Situation.”
- Dr. Kavya Michael, IfE member, and author of the recent detailed study on “Class and climate change in post-reform India.”
- Dr. Richard Osaliya, IfE Advisor, Eastern Africa Regional Coordinator for the Field Hearings, and ecological researcher in Kenya and Uganda.
- Dr. Deborah S. Rogers, IfE President, Affiliated Researcher with Stanford University's Institute for Research in the Social Sciences, and author of 2012 book chapter "Socioeconomic Equity and Sustainability," which details the links between socioeconomic inequalities and environmental problems including climate change.
- Bhola Bhattarai, IfE Advisor, Nepal Country Coordinator for the Field Hearings, and director of National Forum for Advocacy, Nepal (NAFAN), a civil society organization working for equity and sustainable society, for which he has followed the climate negotiations closely.
- Daniela Antons, IfE Advisor, activist on climate, degrowth, and feminist issues in Germany, and co-author of the 2012 Planet Under Pressure white paper “A Vision for Human Well-being: Transition to Social Sustainability.”
- Dr. Daniel Mathews, IfE Advisor, attorney at law, mathematics professor at Monash University in Melbourne, founding member of Wikileaks, and antiwar and inequalities activist.
- Endorsed by
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Initiative for Equality (IfE) - InternationalAbibiman Foundation - GhanaAcademics Stand Against Poverty (ASAP) – InternationalAgricultural Support Foundation - PakistanAmérica Latina y el Caribe del Llamado Mundial a la Acción Contra la Pobreza (GCAP LAC) - Latin America and the CaribbeanAmerican Psychological Association (APA) – United StatesASEDI - TogoAssociation for Promotion Sustainable Development (APSD) - IndiaAssociation of Collaborative Forest Users Nepal (ACOFUN) - NepalAube Nouvelle pour la Femme et le Développement (ANFD)- Democratic Republic of CongoBetter World Cameroon - CameroonBlack Activists Rising Against Cuts- United KingdomBum Association of Health Personnel (BAHEP) - CameroonCenter for Bangladesh Studies (CBS) - BangladeshCenter for Integrated Development Studies - NepalCenter for Sustainability, Ramapo College of New Jersey - United StatesCentre for Grassroots and Environmental Concerns - NigeriaCharles and Doosurgh Abaagu Foundation - NigeriaClimate Emergency Institute - InternationalCoastal Area Intervention Network (CAIN) - BangladeshCollectif Sénégalais des Africaines pour la Promotion de l'Education Relative à l'Environnement (COSAPERE) - SenegalCommunity and Family Aid Foundation - GhanaCommunity Emergency Response Initiative (CERI) - NigeriaConservation of Flora and Fauna (COFF) - PakistanCOPPADES - NepalDevelopment Alternatives India - InternationalDevelopment Initiative for South Asians (DISA) - South AsiaDonkeysaddle Projects - United StatesEchoes of Women in Africa Initiative - NigeriaEco Dobrogea - RomaniaEl Centro Para El Desarrollo Comunal (CEDECO) – HondurasEquity for Children - InternationalEthical Markets Media - United States and BrazilEuropean Environmental Bureau (EEB)Fondo ACI-ERP - HondurasForest Environment Workers Union (FEWUN) - NepalForum for Women and Development (FOKUS) - NorwayFundación Internacional Baltasar Garzón - InternationalFundación Natura - ColombiaGcom Bangladesh - BangladeshGender Empowerment and Development (GeED) - CameroonGlobal Network of Civil Society Organisations for Disaster Reduction (GNDR) - InternationalGlobal Partnership for Local Action - AustriaGram Bharati Samiti (GBS) - IndiaGreenspring Development Initiative - NigeriaGullah/Geechee Fishing Association - Gullah/Geechee NationGullah/Geechee Sea Island Coalition - Gullah/Geechee NationGullah/Geechee Sustainability Think Tank - Gullah/Geechee NationHuman Health Aid – BurundiIncite Options - CanadaInnovative Strategy For Human Development (ISHD) - NigeriaInternational Council on Social Welfare Europe (ICSW) - EuropeInternational Movement For Advancement of Education Culture Social and Economic Development (IMAECSED) - IndiaInternational Network for the Prevention of Elder Abuse (INPEA) - InternationalInternational Social Science Council - InternationalIusPrimiViri - ItalyJeannette Rankin Peace Center (JRPC) - United StatesLa Asociación De Micro, Pequeños y Medianos Empresarios Afro Hondureños – HondurasLa Red Hondureña Contra La Iniquidad – HondurasLabour, Health and Human Rights Development Centre (LHAHRDEV) - Nigerial'Association pour le développement et de la promotion des droits humains (ADPDH) - MauritaniaLatin American and Caribbean Committee for the Defense of Women’s Rights (CLADEM) -BrazilMADRE - InternationalNamalere Forest Conservation Organization - KenyaNational Confederation of Dalit Adivasi Organisations (NACDAOR) - IndiaNational Council of Women USA - United StatesNational Educational & Social Development Organization (NESDO) - NepalNational Fisheries Solidarity Movement (NAFSO) - Sri LankaNational Forum for Advocacy, Nepal (NAFAN) - NepalNepal Climate Change Federation - NepalNeudom - PakistanNoakhali Rural Development Society (NRDS) - BangladeshOrganisation de la Société Civile pour l'Environnement Mandresy DIANA(OSCE Mandresy DIANA) - MadagascarOrissa State Volunteers and Social Workers Association (OSVSWA)- IndiaOSIENALA (Friends of Lake Victoria) - KenyaOther Worlds - United StatesPakistan Fisherfolk Forum (PFF) - PakistanPan African Vision for the Environment (PAVE) - NigeriaPangoea International - BangladeshParadigm Youth Network - ZambiaParticipatory Research Action Network (PRAN) - BangladeshPATHIKRIT - BangladeshSanayee Development Organization (SDO) - AfghanistanSavisthri National Women's Movement - Sri LankaSETU - BangladeshSindhica Reforms Society - PakistanSisters of Charity Federation - United StatesSisters of Notre Dame de Namur - InternationalSocialCoop, CRL - PortugalSociety for the Promotion of Area Resource Centres (SPARC) - IndiaSociety for the Psychological Study of Social Issues- InternationalSociety of Catholic Medical Missionaries - InternationalSouth Asian Youth Climate Coalition (SAYCC) – IndiaSri Lanka Nature Group - Sri LankaSustainable Innovation Initiatives - InternationalTerra-1530 - MoldovaThe Association of Environmental Justice in Israel (AEJI) - IsraelThe Lwazi Programme - Zimbabwe and United KingdomThe National Alliance of Women’s Organisations- United KingdomThe Schumacher Institute - United KingdomTRANSPROJETACAO (Uma metodologia para prosperar a sustentabilidade no mundo) - BrazilTribes Alive/Indigenous People's Cultural Support Trust - United Kingdom and BrazilUDYAMA - IndiaUNANIMA- InternationalUnion de L'Action féministe (UAF) – MoroccoVinoba Bhave University, Hazaribag - IndiaVoice of Women (VoW) - MaldivesWAVE Foundation - BangladeshWomen Environmental Programme (WEP) - NigeriaWorld Futures Studies Federation - International
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