The necessity of global climate justice

Climate change is a global problem that requires a global solution. Achieving the goals of the Paris Agreement is a collective task in which everyone has a role to play. However, the climate transition is taking place in a world characterized by great inequality. The poorest countries, which have contributed the least to the problem, are in many ways the hardest hit by climate change. In addition, they have less access to the resources needed to shape the climate transition and, at the same time, face the challenge of substantially increasing total energy generation to meet development needs. Finally, the transition itself may lead to unfair effects, such as misconducts in the extraction of needed resources.

This lack of international climate justice makes achieving the goals of the Paris Agreement and halting global warming impossible. It also increases inequality, poverty, instability and conflict. For these and other reasons, the AIV emphasizes that it is in the Dutch interest to step up efforts for international climate justice. In this report, the AIV makes concrete recommendations on how the Netherlands can work towards this.