Background Information for the Declaration on Climate Justice

The document argues that climate change disproportionately affects the world's poorest populations, particularly regarding food security and economic growth. It asserts that to limit warming to 2°C, a significant majority of known fossil fuel reserves must remain unused. Furthermore, it highlights that transitioning to renewable energy and energy efficiency can drive job creation and economic growth, citing examples from China and Germany's policy frameworks.

• Climate change disproportionately impacts the world's poorest regions, which lack the capacity to adapt. A 1°C rise in regional temperature is estimated to reduce annual economic growth in poor countries by approximately 1.3 percent.
• Food security is a critical vulnerability; temperature increases beyond 2°C could leave an additional 600 million people facing acute malnutrition by 2080. This is reflected in the fact that 78% of National Adaptation Programmes of Action (NAPAs) from Least Developed Countries prioritize food security.
• To maintain a 50% probability of limiting temperature increases to below 2°C, global GHG emissions between 2000 and 2050 must not exceed 1025 gigatonnes of CO2 equivalent. Consequently, the IEA estimates that two-thirds of known fossil reserves cannot be used, while other analysis suggests nearly 80 percent must remain in the ground.
• Low-carbon development is more labor-intensive than fossil fuel production. Solar PV and wind power generate more jobs per gigawatt hour (0.87 and 0.17 respectively) compared to fossil-fuel generation (0.11). The Chinese government expects energy efficiency and environmental protection to create over 10 million jobs in the next 5–10 years.
• Policy certainty, such as Germany's feed-in tariff under the Renewable Energy Sources Act of 2000, stimulates investment and employment. This specific policy created almost 380,000 jobs and saw capital investment grow from below $5B in 2003 to over $35B in 2008.

APA

World Resources Institute (n.d.). Background Information for the Declaration on Climate Justice. https://pdf.wri.org/climate_justice_declaration_backgrounder.pdf

Chicago

World Resources Institute. Background Information for the Declaration on Climate Justice. n.d. https://pdf.wri.org/climate_justice_declaration_backgrounder.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=World Resources Institute |title=Background Information for the Declaration on Climate Justice |url=https://pdf.wri.org/climate_justice_declaration_backgrounder.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{worldresourcesinstitutendbackground, author = {{World Resources Institute}}, title = {{Background Information for the Declaration on Climate Justice}}, institution = {World Resources Institute}, url = {https://pdf.wri.org/climate_justice_declaration_backgrounder.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }