Most people, including those living in affected areas, don’t understand the term “Climate Justice,” according to a study published in Nature Climate Change. These are the results from a survey involving participants from 11 countries, which could help shape more effective communications and legislation.
A team from the University of Nottingham, UK, surveyed 5,627 adults in 11 countries (Australia, Brazil, Germany, India, Japan, Netherlands, Nigeria, Philippines, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, and United States) to evaluate their knowledge of climate justice. This is the first study to examine public understanding of climate change outside of Europe and North America.
The survey results show that most people have a basic understanding of social, historical, and economic injustices that characterise the climate crisis, even if they don’t consciously connect this with the concept of climate justice. In fact, around 2/3 of participants in these countries had never heard of climate justice.
The vast majority of participants supported climate justice-related beliefs, such as the idea that poorer nations are more likely to suffer from climate change, the worst-affected communities should have more of a say in decisions concerning climate change, and capitalism and colonialism are responsible for some elements of the climate crisis. Overall, endorsement of these ideas was also associated with engagement in climate actions and support for just climate policies.
In general terms, climate justice encompasses the recognition that
- climate change impacts are felt unequally across society
- the worst affected groups often have the least say in the implementation of societal responses to climate change
- climate change-related policies often fail to recognise the legitimate interests of poorer communities, further contributing to disenfranchisement of marginalised groups.
Climate justice aims to enable those involved in policymaking to tackle the multiple ways the climate crisis influences our society.
“Taking account of climate justice as we respond to a changing climate is key to orientating our societies towards solutions that are fair and equitable. It is ironic that research tends to be limited to what people in more affluent regions believe about climate change and climate justice. Citizens of frontline, i.e., climate-vulnerable countries, are largely confined to being the subjects of climate discourse, as opposed to active participants. The unbalanced discourse matches the inequalities that characterise climate change itself,” said Dr Charles Ogunbode, Assistant Professor in Applied Psychology at the University of Nottingham. “By revealing the wide endorsement of climate justice principles around the world, we hope that climate advocates will leverage our research to further pressurise policymakers and leaders to enact just responses to the climate crisis.”
Ogunbode, C.A., Doran, R., Ayanian, A.H. et al. Climate justice beliefs related to climate action and policy support around the world. Nat. Clim. Chang. 14, 1144–1150 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41558-024-02168-y