Charities working for climate justice

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Climate change will affect all of us differently. Social inequality means that the climate crisis will hit harder for people from minoritised groups who live in vulnerable geographies, are younger, or live in poverty, for example.

Charities working towards climate justice are thinking about people and planet together. They’re confronting the question of environmental sustainability using human rights and international development frameworks.

Establishing principles – Mary Robinson Foundation for Climate Justice (MRFCJ)

The MRFCJ’s mission is to, “put justice and equity at the heart of responses to climate change.” Its founder, Mary Robinson, former Irish prime minister and first woman to hold that office, uses her unique ability as a convener to bring together a “powerful and unusual mix of actors” to help shape global conversation and policy on climate change.

They have established a set of climate justice principles to guide their work and influence the way others work on climate justice:

• Respect and protect human rights
• Support the right to development
• Share benefits and burdens equitably
• Ensure decisions on Climate Change are participatory, transparent and accountable
• Highlight gender equality and equity
• Harness the transformative power of education for climate stewardship
• Use effective partnerships to secure climate justice

Fostering collaboration – The Climate Coalition

The Climate Coalition is the biggest group of organisations and individuals in the UK taking action on climate change. The coalition, along with sister organisations Stop Climate Chaos Cymru and Stop Climate Chaos Scotland, represents 130 organisations and over 22 million people.

By bringing together this huge number of voices, the Climate Coalition helps ensure that together, they get heard.

Their ‘Show the Love’ campaign provides activities for local communities to take part by writing to their MP or getting creative to raise awareness. It contributed to the UK becoming one of the first nations to set a net zero target that is legally binding.

Co-creating resources – Christian Aid

Christian Aid has described the impact of climate change as a, “deeply racialised phenomenon.” Their Black Lives Matter Everywhere Report says, “Black and Brown people in Africa, the Caribbean, India and other parts of the global south are facing the brunt of the impacts.”

They supported the conversation on climate change among Black Christians by bringing together senior church leaders and climate activists from black majority churches. The leaders worked with Christian Aid to co-create resources for their communities.

The result of the sessions was The Prophetic Journey Towards Climate Change. It includes a call to discipleship, climate justice posters, a conversation guide, and a toolkit including climate stories from Black Church Leaders.

Empowering the next generation – Fridays For Future

Fridays for future is a youth-led climate action organisation inspired by Greta Thunberg. They aim to put “moral pressure on policymakers, to make them listen to the scientists, and then take forceful action to limit global warming.

Their demands are to:

●     Keep the global temperature rise to below 1.5C compared to pre-industrial levels

●     Ensure climate justice and equity

●     Listen to the best united science currently available

They support members to continue the legacy of striking for the planet that Thunberg started. Her strike movement has become a powerful platform to talk to the world about climate justice and the disproportionate impact of climate change on young people.

Creating a just legal climate – The Good Law Project

The Good Law Project, “strengthen and enforce the law against those who harm the environment or fail to adequately protect it.” They are currently challenging the silencing of climate change protesters. The UK Police Crime and Sentencing Bill brought in new authoritarian measures that are being used to crack down on protesters.

The Good Law Project says, “Inner London Crown Court has been ordering climate protesters not to refer to climate change and fuel poverty when they speak about their rationale for protesting in front of a jury. A number of protestors, who have spoken out and said why they were protesting, have been found to be in contempt of court and given a custodial sentence of several weeks.”

Through supporting the appeal cases of two individuals found to be in contempt of court the Good Law project is protecting the right to protest for climate justice activists in the UK.

How can your charity support climate justice?

There’s a lot that charities working outside the environmental sector can learn from these five climate justice organisations including how to:

• Establish principles for climate justice work based on how it intersects with the issue you work on
• Co-create a climate justice plan and resources with the communities you serve especially those that are likely to be disproportionately affecte
• Listen to younger people in your community on how climate change is already affecting them and the change they want to see
• Consider advocacy work that reflects your climate justice principles