What does justice have to do with it? Climate policy in an unequal world

International responses to climate change have been hampered by tensions over historical responsibility and socio-economic inequality. As the urgency of climate action increases and developing countries face mounting pressure to take mitigation action, debates about justice are likely to intensify. Similar tensions over historical responsibility have occurred during political transitions from authoritarian rule marked by human rights abuses or following civil conflicts, leading to the development of practices and tools for achieving "transitional justice." This talk briefly lays out the rationale for including justice in climate policy analysis, considers some of the lessons that have been learned about doing this, identifies some of the challenges this presents to traditional forms of policy analysis, and lays out some potential new avenues for incorporating justice into climate policy.

About the speaker:

Dr. Sonja Klinsky is Senior Sustainability Scientist at the Julie Ann Wrigley Global Institute of Sustainability and Associate Professor in the School of Sustainability at Arizona State University. Her work centers around the justice dilemmas presented by climate change and climate change policy design. Professor Klinsky has been an observer to the UN framework Convention on Climate Change negotiations since 2009, which has been a foundation of her collaborative work with policy-science interface organizations. These collaborations have sought to generate theoretically sound and politically relevant proposals for constructively addressing debates about justice and fairness embedded in climate policy decision-making at all scales. In addition to this policy-oriented work she has also done research on public perceptions of climate justice dilemmas and policy options.

This talk is free, open to the public, and aimed at a general audience. Students welcome!