Climate Change, Justice and Sustainability

Rich nations are mainly responsible for global greenhouse gas emissions, and they are financially and institutionally better placed to adapt to the impacts of global climate change. Developing countries, though, must face issues such as severe droughts, floods, and other environmental changes associated with the Earth’s warming, with far fewer resources to adapt at their disposal. This volume examines the way climate change is affecting the lives and environments of the poor. It provides a global picture of these impacts as well as finer detail on specific regions. The result of a major research project co-funded by various scientific and development organisations, it combines scientific results about the causes, consequences, and economics of climate change with ethical implications for development policy and sustainability.

Analysing and synthesising vast data sets from a multitude of disciplines including climate science, economics, hydrology and agricultural research, it 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.