Climate Justice

Climate Justice refers to the consideration of human rights norms in the mitigation and treatment of climate change. Human rights should be regulated and implemented in a most responsible, transparent and participatory way. This concept of justice aims to treat all people affected by climate change equally, and to protect their human rights, for example, freedom of movement, freedom to food or to participation. Climate justice is aimed holding accountable those governments and companies responsible for change, be they private, public, individual and international. The relationship between climate change and human rights is best explained by a multi-level stakeholder approach. If the violation of the rights of people is caused by natural forces such as loss of the livelihood and work or the right to access to water and food or property and leads to a loss of right to water and food or property, the responsible stakeholders are to be held legally and economically responsible for these violations. During the multi-stakeholder process, they should be taken into account while defining and passing laws and identifying the responsibility of actors.

[+] Workshop: „Balancing responsibility and solidarity in international climate negotiations“ | March 2, 2016

In terms of climate protection negotiations, historical responsibility is a complex issue from the outset. The difficulty could be intensified with increasing climate impacts. Although the Paris agreement has formalized a flexible approach to differentiation, the fundamental tensions remain. The challenge is to acknowledge the historic responsibility and, at the same time, to increase solidarity in the face of climate impacts and to reach ambitious goals worldwide. This challenge is not easy. How could the international community take on the historic responsibility while promoting priority and country-specific climate protection measures by all parties?

Despite contextual differences, transitional litigation processes offer a wealth of experience and practical tools to manage tensions between historical responsibility and the future-oriented desire to mitigate climate change. This workshop was part of a larger climate protection project, which identifies the instruments and insights from the area of ​​transitional adjustment to the climate context and develops policy-relevant proposals for the application of the tools. The workshop was organized by Climate Strategies and the Konrad Adenauer Foundation in Brussels on March 2, 2016. The presentations of the workshop (in English) can be found on the Climate Strategies website.

Food for Thought on Human Rights and Climate Justice