A Research Agenda for Climate Justice

Elgar Research Agendas outline the future of research in a given area. Leading scholars are given the space to explore their subject in provocative ways, and map out the potential directions of travel. They are relevant but also visionary. Climate change will bring great suffering to communities, individuals and ecosystems. Those least responsible for the problem will suffer the most. Justice demands urgent action to reverse its causes and impacts. In this provocative new book, Paul G. Harris brings together original essays to explore innovative approaches to understanding and implementing climate justice in the future. Through investigations informed by theories from philosophy, politics, sociology, law and economics, this Research Agenda reveals the actors most responsible for climate change and suggests concrete proposals for more effective mitigation. Addressing the distribution of scarce resources and the disproportionate responsibility of affluent nations and people, this insightful book asserts that climate change is a matter of equity, fairness and social and distributive justice. It argues that climate change is shaping up to be the greatest injustice in all of human history. This analytical and thought-provoking Research Agenda will be a valuable tool for climate change researchers while its interdisciplinary approach will appeal to students and academics researching in the fields of global environmental politics, sustainability, international relations, environmental philosophy and law. The examination of the key questions of climate justice from global through to individual levels will also aid policy-makers, practitioners and activists.