{"id":845,"date":"2021-02-18T15:53:00","date_gmt":"2021-02-18T15:53:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dev.erjjiostudios.com\/justone\/?p=845"},"modified":"2023-02-14T17:19:34","modified_gmt":"2023-02-14T17:19:34","slug":"the-importance-of-climate-justice","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dev.erjjiostudios.com\/justone\/post\/the-importance-of-climate-justice\/","title":{"rendered":"The Importance of Climate Justice"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Let\u2019s start with the obvious question; what does \u2018Climate Justice\u2019 mean?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

To answer this, first we must understand something fundamental to sustainability which is overlooked time and time again. Sustainability is not an environmental issue, it is a human one. As many of you will have heard me say:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

People are the cause of the climate crisis\u2026people are the solution.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is a reality which I rarely see reflected in corporate sustainability strategies, reports, risk registers, business plans, or job roles on the market. Nor am I seeing it as part of how teams and businesses are growing and re-organising to respond to sustainability.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Net Zero Carbon is the current buzzword.<\/strong> While it is an extremely important workstream that we must all get on board with in the attempt to avert the worst of the Climate Crisis, as a buzzword it does not strike at the root of the problem and is no silver bullet. Net Zero, like environmental sustainability historically, takes action out of the hands of the people and puts it in the sole domain of the specialists. While we must undertake Net Zero, and it is imperative environmental specialists and engineers are core problem solvers and \u2018doers\u2019 at corporate-level, it has been to our detriment that we have excluded everyone else from this journey by making it a dark art that only these \u2018others\u2019 can take care of and solve for us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We need to democratise the climate crisis.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThere are no passengers on Spaceship Earth. We are all crew.\u201d \u2013 Marshall McLuhan<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

As business gets to grips with Net Zero, JustOne<\/a> believes that people must be at the heart<\/strong> of this movement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So\u2026 what does Climate Justice mean?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

We know that when things go wrong, negative impacts are disproportionate<\/strong>. We have seen this most recently and starkly with COVID-19 highlighting existing issues in race<\/a>, gender<\/a>, and socio-economic<\/a> backgrounds. We are already seeing these disproportionate impacts as part of climate change<\/a>, and they will only get worse as conditions deteriorate and businesses move quickly to adapt, leaving many people behind.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

These disproportionate impacts can therefore take the form of direct climate change impacts such as a reduction of green space for those who already have limited access, worsened flooding and air pollution in less affluent communities who are less able to access the resources to deal with, escape, or bounce-back from being effected.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Disproportionate impacts can also be created by businesses taking action on climate change: factories being closed down without adequate exit strategies, employees losing jobs without the skills or resources to find new ones, or high-risk land and assets being sold quickly to the unscrupulous who will not invest in adequate defences and therefore put the people who live and work there at risk.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The importance of Climate Justice\u2026<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Climate Justice is the term that puts people back at the centre of the issue<\/strong> and can spark real positive change. In understanding the ramifications of climate change in human terms, we can begin to communicate and plan in a way which is more democratic and can create human change. Everyone can understand how they can take action in both their professional and personal lives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When we consider the future we are creating, people are inevitably at the centre of these aspirations<\/strong>: people who understand and steward the environment, make sustainable decisions, and live sustainable lives. Let us work together to bring everyone along on even the most environmentally focused journeys. We see a huge opportunity for all businesses, whatever their geographic or stakeholder influence, to take action on climate change through Climate Justice. By involving everyone, by putting the power back in the hands of the people, we can create the long-term sustainable change that we all need to see.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For further reading you may be interested in the below:<\/p>\n\n\n\n