Distributive climate justice : The road from Paris to Glasgow

Abstract: Climate change will undeniably be this century’s greatest challenge. The complexity and moral ambiguity of the problem entail severe difficulties in achieving unanimous conceptions of an equitable burden-sharing formula. It is additionally intrinsically intertwined with and an amplifier of social injustices, placing issues of justice at the forefront of climate agendas. The Paris Agreement remarked on the necessary breakthrough in climate negotiations and a ground-breaking switch in climate diplomacy. Nonetheless, much remains unclear when it comes to its achievements; has it eradicated old negotiation deadlocks between North and South, and how have conceptualizations of climate justice evolved. With a critical discourse analysis and lens of distributive climate justice, the thesis studies discursive practices at COP21 and COP26 with the aspiration of unveiling changes in discursive constructions of climate justice. Discoveries made indicate that developed and developing countries continue to construct climate justice on widely different normative grounds. Particularistic notions of climate justice persist and undermine abilities to foster socially shared solutions to climate change. This research provides revised and valuable insights into contemporary climate action under the Paris Agreement. Exposing discursive practices is vital to understand the underlying dynamics that produce the social reality of climate justice.