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Climate Justice

As specialists in gender equality and social inclusion, climate justice is a priority for us. Climate change is making existing inequalities worse and having profound impacts on the people and communities we work with.  

We bring our gender equality and social inclusion expertise to the climate change space and mainstream climate justice throughout our work. 

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What is Climate Justice?

 

Our vision is for a just, sustainable and resilient world with equitable solutions to the climate crisis. 

The countries that have contributed the least to global warming are experiencing the worst impacts of climate change. Unequal distributions of power and resources increases the risks that people face from the climate crisis.  

Women and girls, people with disabilities, and other socially excluded groups are often most affected as they are more likely to live in poverty, and less likely to have access to the information and resources they need to adapt. Responses to climate-related disasters are often not accessible for people with disabilities and don’t take into account the increased risks of gender-based violence. 

The voice and inclusion of excluded groups is critical to taking the action the world needs. Inclusive climate action also creates opportunities to promote equality.  

Our work in this area

 

Our work on climate justice brings our gender equality and social inclusion (GESI) expertise to the climate change response. We have an in-depth understanding of the wide-ranging effects of climate change and the connections with GESI.  

We partner with civil society, governments and the private sector to ensure gender equality and social inclusion is at the heart of climate action. We partner with civil society to amplify their voice and promote their leadership. 

We support organisations working on climate change, environmental degradation and disaster risk reduction to increase their ambition on GESI in their work by providing high-quality training, participatory GESI audits, and technical assistance.  

We produce cutting edge research and guidance, highlighting the linkages between climate change and areas including disability inclusion, education, energy and infrastructure, gender-based violence, and women’s economic empowerment. We also produced the first report on integrating a gender lens in the voluntary carbon market. 

“A huge thank you to you and the team for drafting this document. Overall, we found it impressively comprehensive and useful, clearly illustrating how the energy transition can have numerous co-benefits towards more inclusive societies, and helpful suggestions on how to maximise these benefits.”
Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO)

If you would like to hear more about our work on Climate Justice, please reach out to Rebekah Martin, Climate Justice Lead, rebekah.martin@sddirect.org.uk.

Disability inclusion in climate justice frameworks and environmental and climate risk assessment processes

This query considers how disability inclusion is integrated into climate justice frameworks and environmental and climate risk assessment processes. It concludes with key considerations for ensuring people with disabilities are included in analysis of risk and do no harm in climate, energy, and environment programmes.

Disability Inclusion in Nature-Based Solutions Programming

There is an increasing focus on Nature-Based Solutions (NbS) to address the climate crisis. Whilst there is increasing awareness of the importance of disability inclusion in climate action, there is limited evidence available on disability inclusion and nature-based solutions programming. This report provides a rapid review of the emerging evidence on best practice of disability inclusion in nature-based solutions programming.

Integrating a Gender Lens in Voluntary Carbon Markets

The Voluntary Carbon Market represents a huge financial flow - from corporates in the Global North looking to ‘offset’ their residual emissions, to carbon projects often based in the Global South in sectors such as forestry and sustainable agriculture, renewable energy, or cookstoves. Under the current drive for higher integrity and sustainable development outcomes in the Voluntary Carbon Market, there is a unique opportunity to drive climate finance towards integrated gender equality and climate outcomes.

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