Background Information for the Declaration on Climate Justice

This briefing by the World Resources Institute outlines the principles of climate justice, emphasizing the disproportionate impact of climate change on poor populations and the necessity of limiting global emissions to avoid catastrophic warming. It discusses the economic opportunities of a low-carbon transition, specifically in job creation and the role of policy certainty in driving investment.

• Climate change disproportionately affects the world's poorest regions, which lack the economic, institutional, scientific, and technical capacity to adapt. Research indicates that a 1°C rise in regional temperature in a single year can reduce economic growth in poor countries by approximately 1.3 percent. Furthermore, temperature increases exceeding 2°C are projected to leave an additional 600 million people facing acute malnutrition by 2080.
• To maintain a 50% probability of keeping temperature increases below 2°C above pre-industrial levels, the International Energy Agency (IEA) estimates global GHG emissions between 2000 and 2050 must not exceed 1025 gigatonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent. Because total carbon reserves equal 2860 gigatonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent, the IEA suggests two-thirds of known reserves must remain unused to meet the 2°C goal. Combusting all known reserves could lead to a temperature increase greater than 6°C.
• Low-carbon development can provide net positive employment benefits as renewable energy and energy-efficient investments are more labor-intensive than fossil fuel production. For example, solar PV and wind power generate 0.87 and 0.17 jobs per gigawatt hour of power production, respectively, compared to 0.11 jobs for fossil-fuel based generation. The Chinese government expects energy efficiency and environmental protection to create over 10 million jobs within 5–10 years.
• Policy certainty and regulations drive technological innovation and investment. In Germany, the Renewable Energy Sources Act of 2000 and its feed-in tariff provided long-term support that created nearly 380,000 jobs. Capital investment in the German renewable energy sector grew from under $5 billion in 2003 to over $35 billion in 2008, while the number of new clean energy businesses rose by 18% between 2000 and 2007.

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} }