Climate Justice
Zaelke & Picolotti (Jan/Feb 2015)
This course examines goals and processes of climate justice within the broader context of international environmental law and justice. Climate justice addresses the unequal burden climate impacts impose on vulnerable peoples (and places), including low-lying islands and coastal populations, and considers principles of justice, including human rights-based approaches vs. environmental regulatory approaches, and the relative burdens imposed for mitigation. Examines results of Paris COP 21, Montreal Protocol
MOP, and other fast-mitigation strategies. Lectures and group exercises, including negotiations.
1.
Introduction: a.
Need for speed to mitigate climate: Overview of the accelerating climate challenge: 400 ppm/1C barriers (NASA & UK Met web sites; Gulf too hot to live ( Future Temperature in Southwest Asia
Projected to exceed a Threshold for Human Adaptability - Link to full article from Nature Climate
Change ); many poor countries losing up to 75% of income by end of century in warmer world
(Burke, et al. Global nonlinear effect of temperature on economic production , Nature (12 Nov 15) and accompanying news story in Nature and elsewhere); 1.5 vs 2C (excerpts from Jim Hansen’s latest); accelerating feedbacks (Pistone, et al., Observational determination of albedo decrease caused by vanishing Arctic sea ice , PNAS (4 March 2014)). b.
Fast mitigation strategies: Overview of strategies for fastest mitigation to reduce near-term impacts and slow accelerating feedback mechanisms:

Mario Molina, D. Zaelke, V. Ramanathan, S. O. Andersen, & D. Kaniaru, Reducing abrupt climate change risk using the Montreal Protocol and other regulatory actions to complement cuts in CO
2
emissions , PNAS (Oct 2009).

D. G. Victor, D. Zaelke, & V. Ramanathan (2015) Soot and short-lived pollutants provide political opportunity , N ATURE C LIMATE C HANGE .

V. Ramanathan & D. Zaelke, “ Reducing Climate Injustice to the Poor Is Within Our
Reach ”, The Huffington Post (21 Sept 2015)
 M. Molina, V. Ramanathan, & D. Zaelke, “
As Climate Impacts Accelerate, Speed of
Mitigation Becomes Key
”,
The Huffington Post (15 July 2014) c.
Pursuing justice/reducing injustice: Overview of approaches to justice/injustice, focusing on the disparate burdens on poor from impacts/adaptation, and required mitigation, including impacts on development. Rawls’ ideal justice vs. Amartya Sen’s pragmatic approach to reducing injustice
(Stefan Bird-Pollan, Book Review , Amartya Sen, The Idea of Justice, Belknap Press, 2009, in
Public Reason, 2(2):102-108) ; common but differentiated responsibility and respective capabilities:
Montreal Protocol example; contraction and convergence of per capita emissions; loss and damage/reparations; financing for mitigation and adaptation. (Romina Picolotti (Dec 2011) An equitable arrangement , UNEP O UR P LANET : P OWERING C LIMATE S OLUTIONS .)
2.
Further examination of fast mitigation strategies and concepts of justice, including human rights based approaches vs. regulatory approaches.
3.
Review of Montreal Protocol MOP 27 (6 Nov 15); see Editorial, A Breath of Fresh Air , Nature (12
Nov 15) and IISD summary online; plus final decision on Secretariat web site); and COP 21 (final text and selected commentary), to analyze how they measure up on fast mitigation and climate justice.
4.
Negotiating Montreal Protocol MOP 28 (extra-ordinary MOP agreed for 2016, but date and location not yet determined) and COP 22 in Marrakech (Dec 2016).
5.
Negotiations continued.
6.
Presentation of negotiation results.
7.
Critique and review.

Supplemental readings:

IGSD Primer on HFCs (Nov 2015) (check IGSD web site for updated version in January 2026).

Climate & Clean Air Coalition to Reduce Short-lived Climate Pollutants, Time to Act , and other resources on their web page.

The Economist
, Editorial, “
Low-hanging dirt
” (3 Oct 2015)

The Environmental Law Institute,
Durwood Zaelke, “
Post-Paris Pivot to Fast Climate Change
Mitigation
” (Nov/Dec 2015)

Nathan Borgford-Parnell, Maxime Beaugrand, Durwood Zaelke, & Stephen O. Andersen (October
2015) Phasing down the use of hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) , in S
EIZING THE
G
LOBAL
O
PPORTUNITY
, a report from the New Climate Economy.

Yangyang Xu, Durwood Zaelke, Guus J. M. Velders, & Veerabhadran Ramanathan (2013) The role of HFCs in mitigating 21st century climate change , A TMOSPHERIC C HEMISTRY AND P HYSICS .
13:6083-6089.
 Romina Picolotti (2013) Fast and refreshing , UNEP O
UR
P
LANET
: T
HE
F
UTURE
I
S
P
RICELESS
.)

Mario Molina & Durwood Zaelke (2013) A comprehensive approach for reducing anthropogenic climate impacts including risk of abrupt climate changes , F
ATE OF
M
OUNTAIN
G
LACIERS IN THE
A
NTHROPOCENE
, Proceedings of the Working Group , 2-4 April 2011, Paul J. Crutzen, Lennart
Bengtsson & Veerabhadran Ramanathan (eds) (Pontifical Academy of Sciences, Scripta Varia 118).

The New York Times
, D. Zaelke & V. Ramanathan, “
Going Beyond Carbon Dioxide
” (7 Dec 2012)
 The In’tl Herald Tribune , M. Molina & D. Zaelke, “
A Climate Success Story to Build On
” (26 Sept
2012)
 Romina Picolotti (15 July 2010) A Proposal to Change the Political Strategy of Developing
Countries in Climate Negotiations , International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD)
Multilateral Environmental Agreement (MEA) B
ULLETIN
.
Class schedule:
1. Mon, Jan 25 at 4-6 pm
2. Tues, Jan 26 at 4-6 pm
3. Wed, Jan 27 at 4-6 pm
4. Thurs, Jan 28 at 4-6 pm
5. Mon, Feb 1 at 4-6:30 pm
6. Tues, Feb 2 at 4-6:30 pm
7. Wed, Feb 3 at 4-6:30 pm
2