One thing is certain: climate change does not affect everyone in the same way. While some countries discuss carbon targets at international conferences, others struggle to survive drought, famine, and loss of territory. 

It is from this inequality of impacts that climate justice is born, an idea that goes beyond the environmental field and enters the domain of human rights and social equity.

The term "climate justice" emerged in the late 1980s within the context of American environmental movements denouncing environmental racism. This movement, led by activists such as Robert Bullard, laid the groundwork for the understanding that the environment and social inequality are inseparable dimensions. Over the decades, the concept has become globalized and has come to encompass not only the unequal distribution of environmental impacts, but also the historical disparities in responsibility for climate degradation.

Internationally, the notion of climate justice began to gain institutional traction following the United Nations Conference on the Human Environment (Stockholm, 1972). There, it was recognized that environmental protection is essential for human well-being and that countries have common but differentiated responsibilities. This expression would be enshrined twenty years later at Rio-92, when Principle 7 of the Rio Declaration on Environment and Development consolidated that "States have common but differentiated responsibilities due to their different contributions to global environmental degradation."

This idea is at the heart of climate justice: everyone is responsible for the planet, but not equally. After all, not everyone affects it in the same way. Objectively, industrialized countries, which have historically emitted the most greenhouse gases, have a duty to lead mitigation efforts and finance adaptation in developing countries. This relationship of differentiated responsibility is the moral and legal basis of the Paris Agreement (2015), the main climate treaty today, which enshrines voluntary national targets (NDCs) and mechanisms for financial cooperation.

From environmental justice to global climate justice.

The transition from the concept of environmental justice to that of climate justice reflects a change in scale and focus.
While environmental justice focuses on local problems (such as urban pollution, deforestation, or irregular land use), climate justice addresses the global and intergenerational consequences of the climate crisis, questioning, above all, who pays the price for emissions accumulated since the Industrial Revolution – and both are equally important and relevant, of course. 

In this sense, authors such as Mary Robinson (former President of Ireland and founder of the Mary Robinson Foundation – Climate Justice ) argue that the fight against climate change should be guided not only by technical criteria, but also by principles of equity, dignity, and human rights. Robinson defines climate justice as "the fair allocation of the burdens and benefits of mitigation and adaptation actions, recognizing the vulnerability of the poorest and the moral duty of the richest."

In the legal field, the concept engages with the principle of intergenerational solidarity, foreseen in Principle 3 of the Rio Declaration/1992, which establishes that "the right to development must be exercised in such a way as to equitably meet the needs of present and future generations." In other words, climate justice is also a temporal issue, seeking to ensure that the planet remains habitable for future generations. Thus, it is a shared and ethical responsibility.

The political and legal evolution of climate justice.

The trajectory of climate justice cannot be understood without considering the history of multilateral climate agreements. After Stockholm (1972) and Rio (1992), the topic gained prominence with the creation of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in 1992. This convention established the institutional framework for the Conferences of the Parties (COPs), annual meetings in which countries negotiate mitigation and adaptation commitments, and therefore we cannot fail to highlight it.

The Kyoto Protocol (1997) was the first treaty with mandatory emission reduction targets for developed countries, symbolizing an important, albeit limited, step towards climate justice. The Paris Agreement (2015), resulting from COP21, replaced rigid targets with nationally determined contributions (NDCs), reinforcing voluntary cooperation but requiring transparency and accountability.

In 2022, COP27 (Egypt) took a historic step by creating the Loss and Damage Fund , a mechanism that seeks to compensate poorer countries for the already irreversible impacts of climate change, such as floods, droughts, and rising sea levels. This decision was celebrated as a milestone in climate justice, as it recognizes that the climate burden should not fall on those who have contributed least to the problem.

Climate justice in the Latin American context

In Latin America, the debate on climate justice is closely linked to the defense of indigenous peoples, quilombola communities, and traditional communities. The region is home to the Amazon, the largest tropical rainforest on the planet, responsible for storing approximately 120 billion tons of carbon and regulating the continental water cycle. The destruction of this biome directly affects rainfall patterns, agriculture, and the food security of millions of people.

The Escazú Agreement (2018), the first environmental treaty in Latin America and the Caribbean, reinforces this perspective by guaranteeing rights of access to information, public participation, and environmental justice. Brazil signed it in 2018, although its ratification still depends on legislative approval. Therefore, this treaty is considered essential for climate justice, as it protects environmental defenders, a group that, according to the NGO Global Witness , is one of the most murdered in the world.

Ethical and legal dimensions of climate justice

Climate justice challenges the traditional separation between environmental law and international human rights law. By recognizing that climate change affects the right to life, housing, and food, it broadens the scope of legal protection. In 2022, the UN General Assembly adopted Resolution 76/300, officially recognizing the human right to a clean, healthy, and sustainable environment. This is a clearly crucial step towards linking state obligations to this principle.

Climate justice, therefore, is not an appendix to environmental policies; it is their essence. It redefines the sustainability paradigm, shifting the focus from carbon to people, from climate regulation to the redistribution of the benefits and burdens of the ecological transition.

REFERENCES 

Stockholm Declaration on the Human Environment (1972).

Rio Declaration on Environment and Development (1992).

United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC, 1992).

Paris Agreement (2015).

Kyoto Protocol (1997).

UN General Assembly, Resolution 76/300 (2022).

Inter-American Court of Human Rights, Advisory Opinion OC-23/17.

Escazú Agreement (2018).

Robinson, Mary. Climate Justice: Hope, Resilience, and the Fight for a Sustainable Future . Bloomsbury, 2018.

Bullard, Robert. Dumping in Dixie: Race, Class, and Environmental Quality . Westview Press, 1990.

UN. 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development . New York, 2015.