On 29 August Professor Paul G. HARRIS of the Department of Social Sciences gave an invited keynote speech to the Hong Kong Climate Emergency Summit 2021. The summit was organized by the Hong Kong Network of Environmental Student Societies.
The topic of Professor Harris's speech was “Climate Justice and the Climate Emergency: A Call for Action.” In the speech, Professor Harris argued several key points, including the following:
• Effectively addressing the climate emergency will require focused attention on the most vital sources of failure in climate governance over several decades.
• Much, if not most, of that failure can be attributed to a lack of climate justice
– a lack of ecological and environmental justice, a lack of social and distributive justice, and a lack of international and global justice.
• Broadly speaking, justice in this context can be conceived of as the fair and equitable distribution of the burdens (and benefits) associated with climate change.
• Demands for justice began decades ago. Had they been listened to and acted upon then, the climate emergency might have been averted.
• To prevent global climate catastrophe, climate governance must immediately embrace and quickly implement all forms of climate justice.
For information on the Hong Kong Climate Emergency Summit, visit the following the website: https://www.nesshk.org/
For more information on Professor Harris's work, visit the following website: https://paulgharris.net