Weekly: Why the climate crisis is an issue of injustice and inequality
Apr 18, 2025
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Friederike Otto, co-founder of the World Weather Attribution project, and Joyce Kimutai, a climate scientist from Kenya, delve into the intertwined issues of climate justice and extreme weather. They discuss how climate attribution has evolved to highlight the link between climate change and catastrophic events. The conversation shifts to the urgent need for wealthy nations to compensate poorer countries disproportionately affected by climate crises. Legal avenues for holding corporate polluters accountable are explored, emphasizing the potential impact of ongoing climate litigation.
Climate attribution connects climate change to extreme weather events, emphasizing the urgent need to recognize its impacts and responsibility.
Climate justice highlights that wealthier nations must compensate poorer countries disproportionately affected by climate change, reflecting deep global inequalities.
Deep dives
Understanding Climate Attribution
Climate attribution connects climate change to extreme weather events, allowing scientists to quantify how much climate change increases the likelihood or intensity of these events. For example, the World Weather Attribution Project, co-founded by Freddie Otto, provides real-time analyses of weather events, enabling reports to state that a specific heat wave was made significantly more likely due to climate change. This methodology has evolved to provide faster, more accurate assessments, addressing the gap between scientific research and public understanding. For instance, the attribution of the 2022 heat wave in the UK, which resulted in over 3,000 deaths, highlighted its rare occurrence and underscored the impact of climate change on such extreme events.
The Role of Climate Justice
Climate justice emphasizes that wealthier nations, responsible for the majority of historical emissions, should compensate poorer countries that contribute little but suffer the most from climate impacts. Discussions on loss and damage at climate conferences, like COP28, illustrate the urgent need for financial support, yet the pledges made remain grossly insufficient compared to estimated annual damages resulting from climate change. Joyce Kimutai highlights how the narrative around loss and damage has evolved since its inception in 1991, reflecting the urgent calls from vulnerable countries for accountability. Despite some progress, such as the establishment of a loss and damage fund, actual financial commitment remains lacking, pointing to deep inequalities in global climate response.
Advances in Climate Litigation
Climate litigation is emerging as a significant avenue to hold corporations accountable for their contributions to climate change, with cases exploring whether fossil fuel companies can be liable for climate-related damages. One notable case involves the German energy giant RWE, which is being sued for its historical emissions, representing 0.47% of global greenhouse gases. This legal action symbolizes a growing trend in using climate attribution to tie specific companies to the financial burden of climate incidents, such as the devastating floods in Pakistan. Such cases illustrate the potential for legal systems to bridge the gap between scientific attribution and tangible financial reparations, fostering accountability in corporate practices.
The Need for a Justice Narrative
Freddie Otto emphasizes the importance of creating a positive narrative in the fight against climate change, advocating for a vision of a more equitable and sustainable future. Current stories often center on the destructive aspects of climate change without envisioning a world transformed by successful climate action. Addressing systemic inequalities is positioned as critical to overcoming climate challenges, suggesting that the fight against climate change must incorporate broader issues of social justice and equity. Otto argues that while it is vital to identify what must change, it is equally important to articulate a hopeful vision of what a just world could look like, inspiring meaningful action.
In a climate justice special episode of the podcast, the biggest issue of the century is up for discussion. Find out the true impact of climate change on our planet and who should be paying to fix the crisis.
Rowan Hooper and Madeleine Cuff are joined by two climate experts - Friederike Otto and Joyce Kimutai from the World Weather Attribution project at Imperial College London.
This episode is dedicated to answering three questions - starting with the issue of climate attribution. To what extent can we blame climate change for extreme weather events like hurricanes, droughts, heatwaves, floods and wildfires? Find out how climate attribution began as a fringe science and how it has evolved to become a firm part of public consciousness.
The next question is one of climate justice - how can we make sure rich countries pay for the loss and damage caused to poorer countries by climate change? The argument is that poorer nations are least responsible for climate change, yet they are most affected by its impacts. So at the latest UN climate summit, COP28, a lot of money was pledged - yet hardly any of it has actually materialised. So what’s going on?
And the third question is about litigation - can climate attribution be used to achieve justice, by forcing climate polluters to pay up? A trial is ongoing where a company in Germany is being sued for its role in damaging the climate - but it’s still unclear whether the case will be successful. The hope is with climate attribution, it’ll be easier to bring cases like this forward and offer up a more detailed picture of how much damage has been done - and how much money is owed.
