Climate change impacts are not distributed equally in society. In fact, marginalized and vulnerable communities, who contributed least to global greenhouse gas emissions, are often disproportionately affected by both slow-onset events as well as extreme events caused by climate change. This course deals with the growing field of climate justice, which addresses these ethical and distributional concerns. The course starts with a review of the causes and consequences of economic, social and environmental inequality and discusses how these three dimensions of inequality are interrelated. The course then specifically turns to climate change and analyzes inequality in climate change contributions, inequality in climate change impacts, and distributional effects of climate policies. In the final part of the course, students will present their own climate justice projects.

Upon completing this course, students will gain an understanding of key debates in the field of climate justice. They will become familiar with various concepts used to empirically analyze the magnitude and development of different types of inequality. Additionally, students will learn to distinguish between descriptive studies that document patterns of inequality and those that provide credible evidence on the causes of these disparities.

Please note that at least 80% attendance is mandatory in courses of the type “PI” at WU. The last date (May 23) is scheduled as backup only.

• Inputs by the lecturers
• Group discussions
• Presentations
• Videos

Participation 20%

Quizzes 20%

Discussion questions 20%

Own project 40%

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