A provocative contribution to the climate justice debate Climate change and justice are so closely associated that many people take it for granted that a global climate treaty should—indeed, must—directly address both issues together. But, in fact, this would be a serious mistake, one that, by dooming effective international limits on greenhouse gases, would actually make the world's poor and developing nations far worse off. This is the provocative and original argument of Climate Change Justice. Eric Posner and David Weisbach strongly favor both a climate change agreement and efforts to improve economic justice. But they make a powerful case that the best—and possibly only—way to get an effective climate treaty is to exclude measures designed to redistribute wealth or address historical wrongs against underdeveloped countries. In clear language, Climate Change Justice proposes four basic principles for designing the only kind of climate treaty that will work—a forward-looking agreement that requires every country to make greenhouse-gas reductions but still makes every country better off in its own view. This kind of treaty has the best chance of actually controlling climate change and improving the welfare of people around the world.

This collection sheds new light on the key ethical issues of climate change justice.

Analysing and synthesising vast data sets from a multitude of disciplines including climate science, economics, hydrology and agricultural research, this volume seeks new methods of combining climate change mitigation, adaptation, development, and poverty reduction in ways that are effective, efficient and equitable. A guiding principle of the project is that new alliances of state and non-state sector partners are urgently required to establish cooperative responses to the threats posed by climate change. This volume offers a vital policy framework for linking our response to this change with progressive principles of global justice and sustainable development.

This book examines the multiple scales at which the inequities of climate change are borne out. Shangrila Joshi engages in a multi-scalar analysis of the myriad ways in which various resource commons – predominantly atmosphere and forests – are implicated in climate governance, with a consistent emphasis throughout on the justice implications for disenfranchised communities. The book starts with an analysis of North-South inequities in responsibility, vulnerability, and capability, as evidenced in global climate treaty negotiations from Rio to Paris. It then moves on to examine the ways in which structural inequalities are built into the conceptualization and operationalization of various neoliberal climate solutions such as Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD+) and the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM). Drawing on qualitative interviews conducted in Delhi, Kathmandu, and the Terai region of Nepal, participant observation at the Climate Conference in Copenhagen (COP-15), and textual analysis of official documents, the book articulates a geography of climate justice, considering how ideas of injustice pertaining to colonialism, race, Indigeneity, caste, gender, and global inequality intersect with the politics of scale. This book will be of great interest to students and scholars of environmental justice, climate justice, climate policy, political ecology, and South Asian studies.

Introduction -- "Fear of a black planet" : ecotopia and eugenics in climate narratives -- Ghosts and reparations -- Mapping and memory -- "Bodies tell stories" : mourning and hospitality after Katrina -- Round dance and resistance -- "Slow insurrection" : dissent, collective voice, and social care -- Cannibal spirits and sacred seeds -- Epilogue: "Everyday micro-utopias".

"An urgent call to arms by one of the most important voices in the international fight against climate change, sharing inspiring stories and offering vital lessons for the path forward." -- From book jacket.

The global debate over who should take action to address climate change is extremely precarious, as diametrically opposed perceptions of climate justice threaten the prospects for any long-term agreement. Poor nations fear limits on their efforts to grow economically and meet the needs of their own people, while powerful industrial nations, including the United States, refuse to curtail their own excesses unless developing countries make similar sacrifices. Meanwhile, although industrialized countries are responsible for 60 percent of the greenhouse gas emissions that contribute to climate change, developing countries suffer the "worst and first" effects of climate-related disasters, including droughts, floods, and storms, because of their geographical locations. In A Climate of Injustice, J. Timmons Roberts and Bradley Parks analyze the role that inequality between rich and poor nations plays in the negotiation of global climate agreements. Roberts and Parks argue that global inequality dampens cooperative efforts by reinforcing the "structuralist" worldviews and causal beliefs of many poor nations, eroding conditions of generalized trust, and promoting particularistic notions of "fair" solutions. They develop new measures of climate-related inequality, analyzing fatality and homelessness rates from hydrometeorological disasters, patterns of "emissions inequality," and participation in international environmental regimes. Until we recognize that reaching a North-South global climate pact requires addressing larger issues of inequality and striking a global bargain on environment and development, Roberts and Parks argue, the current policy gridlock will remain unresolved.