Working towards climate justice

To make sure we meet our ambitious climate targets, we'll:

• Minimize burdens for those already struggling
• Set higher expectations on those who can afford it
• Identify and resource work needed to go deeper (continuing to work with the climate and equity working group, developing a climate justice charter, and developing equity indicators)
• Be accountable to equity milestones

All Climate Emergency Action Plan related reports to Council will assess how the proposed program or policy will impact households earning less than $50,000 per year and how any adverse impacts are being mitigated.

We know there's a lot more to do on equity within climate policy and future work will be shaped by:

• Climate Justice Charter for Vancouver PDF file (3 MB)
• Equity Framework
• Reconciliation Framework
• Healthy City Strategy
• Vancouver’s Housing Strategy
• Women’s Equity Strategy

2020

• In 2020, a group of organizations and individuals with diverse lived experiences formed the Climate and Equity Working Group to provide advice and guidance during the development of the Climate Emergency Action Plan PDF file (17.4 MB), making sure staff considered equity impacts in all aspects of the plan.
• 16 members brought a rich mix of intersecting perspectives including new immigrants, people with disabilities, people with low income, and urban Indigenous people.
• This group encouraged us to develop a Climate Justice Charter with equity-denied community members, to deepen our commitments of changing sustainability policies and practices to better address equity and racial justice.

May 2021- November 2022

• Made up of 16 individuals who bring a diverse range of lived experiences of systemic inequities and those who work or volunteer to address racial and climate justice in Vancouver.
• Throughout 2021, members of the Climate Equity Working Group advised our staff on climate-related policies, programs, and engagement efforts from an equity perspective.
• Throughout 2022, the Climate Equity Working Group developed a Climate Justice Charter PDF file (3 MB) for Vancouver to explore ways to hold us accountable to embedding equity into the ways that climate policies are developed and implemented. The charter was presented to City Council and staff in February 2023 as a record of their work.
• The Climate Justice Charter shows what the community thinks and what needs to be done to advance justice in climate-related work in the city. It shows how climate, equity, and justice are related and explains and articulates why we to focus on them specifically within climate work.

Climate justice:

• Is an approach that applies a social justice framework to the ways we understand and respond to climate change. It recognizes that climate change is a collective, global crisis, but its impacts are not felt evenly around the world, nor evenly within communities or between species
• Has existed as long as Indigenous Peoples around the world, including Musqueam, Squamish, and Tsleil-Waututh who have lived on and stewarded these lands and waters since time immemorial
• Seeks to equitably distribute the costs and benefits related to climate adaptation and mitigation measures by centering the wellbeing and wisdom of those most impacted by climate change. Without climate justice, tackling the climate crisis can only address symptoms, not root causes

• Climate Equity Working Group (2021-2022) – Summary report PDF file (1 MB)
• Climate Justice Charter Scoping Report (Completed by Adriana Laurent in 2021) PDF file (252 KB)
• Climate Emergency Action Plan Report Appendix - Climate and Equity Working Group Summary (2020) PDF file (93 KB)
• Equity review – Hua Foundation – Summary Report (2020) PDF file (273 KB)
• Equity review – Toronto Environmental Alliance Review of Draft Climate Emergency Plan (2020) PDF file (215 KB)