Climate justice: building socio-economic equity for climate action

This workshop will provide a networking and publications opportunity for CANSEE participants who are interested in mobilizing their own research and practical ideas related to climate justice (both within Canada and globally) for policy, activism, and public education.

Participants will be invited to share their own experiences and research and to coordinate actions to accelerate an equitable energy transition in Canada. These may include contributions to a special issue of Capitalism Nature Socialism (CNS) or another journal; a planned series of newspaper op-ed articles and blogs; submissions to Canadian Dimension, The Conversation, the Narwhal, Rabble.ca, This Magazine, Ricochet, The Walrus, Indigenous Watchdog, The Tyee, and other publications; planned protests in collaboration with environmental NGOs and community-based organizations; organized actions in relation to current events; and/or other networking and action ideas in accordance with participants’ interests.

Canadians’ carbon footprint per capita is among the highest in the world, lagging mainly small Middle Eastern oil-producing nations. This reflects our high energy use for both heating and cooling, transportation, and high-income lifestyles, as well as the structure of the Canadian economy. Emissions from oil and gas extraction (including the tarsands), and from agriculture (including natural gas-based fertilizer use) are still increasing, while emissions from heating and cooling buildings, transportation, and most other sectors, have gradually begun to decline. Estimates of taxpayer subsidies to the Canadian fossil fuel industry range from $4.5 bn to $18 bn per year – more than any other G20 country. New tax credits to high-emitters for ‘carbon capture and storage’ are likely to add billions to this total. Canadian peatlands, which store twice as much carbon as all the world’s forests, are beginning to release carbon due to permafrost thawing, water loss, and fires, which could result in a worsening cycle of new emissions from Canada over the coming decades, comparable in quantity to those of Europe today. We know that climate chaos hurts the vulnerable first and hardest. Equity and socialtrust are important determinants of all countries’ ability to efficiently and rapidly implement progressive emissions-reduction and energy-transition policies.

I am teaching a Climate Justice field course at York this summer which will include opportunities for graduate and undergraduate students to research and write about climate justice case studies; they would all be potential participants and contributors to this workshop. I am an editorial group member for CNS and the coordinator of Women & Environments International magazine, which could facilitate publication opportunities. This workshop will respond to the interests and priorities of all participants as we share strategies for how Canada can urgently reshape its global climate justice priorities.