Shifting power through climate research

The document argues that colonial legacies continue to shape climate impacts and the way research is conducted, often disadvantaging the Global South. It proposes a framework for shifting power across three stages of the scientific process: project design, implementation, and dissemination. Key recommendations include adopting co-productive methodologies, ensuring equitable funding and hiring practices, practicing active reflexivity in the field, and diversifying publication channels to include regional and open-access journals. The authors emphasize that while individual researchers can take action, systemic change is required from institutions and funders to dismantle structural barriers.

• Colonial legacies and unequal power dynamics persist in the climate-knowledge economy, where Global North institutions and researchers dominate academic publications, research agendas, and international governing bodies like the IPCC and UNFCCC.
• Power imbalances are often embedded in the project design phase through funding mechanisms that prioritize the agendas of funding institutions over those of local communities and create barriers for applicants from developing countries.
• To shift power during project design, researchers should move away from the 'lead institution' model toward equitable decision-making and co-production, ensuring local partners help shape research questions and priorities from the start.
• During project implementation, researchers should employ 'active reflexivity' to understand how their own positionality and privilege influence data collection and interactions with participants.
• The use of secondary data can perpetuate inequities if researchers do not critically analyze the power relations, purposes, and methods behind how that data was originally collected.
• The journal publication system is a business dominated by Global North standards, which often marginalizes multi-language approaches and unorthodox methodologies; researchers are encouraged to use regional and open-access journals.
• Climate 'solutions' and policy recommendations can reinforce colonial structures if they rely on simplistic vulnerability or resilience framings; instead, they should address root causes, such as through debt relief and reparations.

APA

Daszkiewicz, C., Shawoo, Z., Nazareth, A., Coleoni, C., Kwamboka, E., Ghosh, E., Han, J. Y.-C., Tran, K. I. M., & Diaz-Chavez, R. A. (2022). Shifting power through climate research. Stockholm Environment Institute. https://www.sei.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/shifting-power-through-climate-research-for-es-version.pdf

Chicago

Daszkiewicz, Christina, Zoha Shawoo, Anisha Nazareth, Claudia Coleoni, Elvine Kwamboka, Emily Ghosh, Jenny Yi-Chen Han, Katarina Inga Minh Tran, and Rocio A. Diaz-Chavez. Shifting power through climate research. Stockholm Environment Institute, 2022. https://www.sei.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/shifting-power-through-climate-research-for-es-version.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Daszkiewicz |first1=Christina |last2=Shawoo |first2=Zoha |last3=Nazareth |first3=Anisha |last4=Coleoni |first4=Claudia |last5=Kwamboka |first5=Elvine |last6=Ghosh |first6=Emily |last7=Han |first7=Jenny Yi-Chen |last8=Tran |first8=Katarina Inga Minh |last9=Diaz-Chavez |first9=Rocio A. |title=Shifting power through climate research |publisher=Stockholm Environment Institute |date=January 2022 |url=https://www.sei.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/shifting-power-through-climate-research-for-es-version.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{daszkiewicz2022shifting, author = {Daszkiewicz, Christina and Shawoo, Zoha and Nazareth, Anisha and Coleoni, Claudia and Kwamboka, Elvine and Ghosh, Emily and Han, Jenny Yi-Chen and Tran, Katarina Inga Minh and Diaz-Chavez, Rocio A.}, title = {{Shifting power through climate research}}, institution = {Stockholm Environment Institute}, year = {2022}, month = jan, url = {https://www.sei.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/shifting-power-through-climate-research-for-es-version.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }