Providing remedies for climate harms - A dialogue between transitional justice and climate justice

The fight against climate change is fundamentally about justice: As Germany’s new Strategy on Climate Foreign Policy recognises, some of the countries least responsible for historical greenhouse gas emissions are now facing the most dire impacts of a warming planet. Besides reducing emissions, rectifying this injustice requires concerted efforts, particularly by those countries bearing most responsibility. To this end, the UN’s newly established “Loss and Damage Fund” aims to offer resources to avert, minimise, and address the disastrous effects of climate change. Some have framed such efforts at achieving climate justice as an issue of reparations.
By offering a framework for how taking responsibility for the past can provide the basis of a more equitable future, transitional justice should be well positioned to contribute to this conversation. Having implemented reparations programmes in many contexts, the field has gained relevant experiences about their nature, design and implementation, as well as ways of involving affected communities. With the issue of material and non-material remedies for climate harms rising on political agendas, this event brought transitional justice and climate experts into a dialogue about the challenges and opportunities of providing them in practice.
Welcome remarks by Andrew Gilmour, Executive Director, Berghof Foundation
Speakers:
Sebastian Lesch, Head of Division - Climate Policy, Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development
Munini Mutuku, Interim Chair of the Transitional Justice Interest Group, Environmental Peacebuilding Association
Clara Sandoval, Director of Programmes, Global Survivors Fund
Laura Schäfer, Senior Advisor - Climate Risk Management, Germanwatch
Moderated by Jasmina Brankovic, Senior Research Specialist, Centre for the Study of Violence and Reconciliation