Mapping Climate Justice in the Twenty-first Century

Abstract

Climate justice accounts for the most challenging global governance goal. In the current climate change mitigation and adaptation efforts, high and low income households but also developed and underdeveloped countries as well as various overlapping generations are affected differently. This article maps international climate change mitigation and adaptation regimes in order to derive fair climate stability implementation strategies. Based on insights on the current endeavor to finance climate change mitigation and adaptation around the globe, a 3-dimensional climate justice approach will be introduced to share the burden of climate change fair within society. First, climate justice within a country should pay tribute to the fact that low- and high income households share the same burden proportional to their dispensable income, for instance enabled through a progressive carbon taxation. Those who caused climate change could be regulated to bear a higher cost through carbon tax in combination with retroactive billing through inheritance tax. Secondly, fair climate change burden sharing between countries comprises of argumentations that those countries benefiting more from a stable climate, hence those with a larger landscape or higher population, who have more access to climate than others, should also bear a higher burden of climate change mitigation and adaptation efforts. Countries that reap benefit from a warming earth should be obliged to finance international aid for those who are impacted negatively by climate change, e.g., climate refugees. In addition, building on case and international law, those countries that have better means of protection or conservation of the common climate should also face a greater responsibility to protect the earth. Thirdly, climate justice over time is proposed in an innovative climate change burden sharing strategy. Innovative compensation schemes to share the burden of climate change with bonds help weight the burden of climate change more equally between today’s and tomorrow’s society. A climate tax-and-bonds mix could subsidize the current world industry for transitioning to green solutions and future generations, who will enjoy a less carbon intensive industry and more stable climate but should repay those bonds. Thereby the current generation is advised to mitigate climate change financed through bonds to remain financially as well off as without mitigation while improving environmental well-being of future generations. This respective intergenerational tax-and-transfer policy-mix could turn climate change mitigation into a Pareto-improving strategy. All these efforts should alleviate the contemporary global governance predicament that seems to pit today’s generation against future world inhabitants in a trade-off of economic growth versus sustainability. Deriving respective policy recommendations for the wider climate change community is aimed at ensuring to share the burden but also the benefits of climate change within society, between countries and over time in an equitable and fair way.