Cities incorporate equity in their climate policies but overlook procedural justice in decision-making

Abstract

Increasingly, urban scholars and decision-makers are emphasizing the integration of justice into urban policy. Yet, there is limited research on if or how cities incorporate procedural justice (fairness, equality and inclusion) in urban governance. Here, we demonstrate that less than half of the C40 cities with climate action plans lean toward including procedural justice in policy choices and the related measures. We find that cities adopting the C40-driven equity pledge, those joining the C40 later and cities in the Global South positively correlate with the integration of procedural justice. Cities that substantially engage in procedural justice demonstrate fairness in decision-making processes through visible collaboration and clear plans. In contrast, cities lacking engagement with procedural justice focus primarily on the fairness of outcomes without addressing deeper systemic issues or involving marginalized groups, leading to what we label as tokenistic modes of participation. Cities must move beyond normative policy prescription and instead use concrete organizational tools to circumvent historical legacies of injustice. Yazar and coauthors investigate the incorporation of procedural justice—fair and inclusive decision-making processes—among the climate-ambitious cities in the C40 network. They find that less than half of C40 cities emphasize procedural justice in climate planning, thereby limiting their ability to meaningfully address systemic inequality.