Overcoming urban climate injustice: synthesising global pathways and principles

Urban communities continue to face unequal exposure to climate impacts and exclusionary governance; however, cities are increasingly deploying joint mitigation and adaptation interventions. This paper presents a rapid review of global case studies to map promising pathways for achieving urban climate justice. Interrogating evidence, we find that the core pillars of justice—distributive, procedural, and recognitional—are being engaged with in climate action. Additionally, our conceptual framework integrates epistemic and restorative justice to address deeply rooted systemic exclusions. We argue that climate initiatives are more likely to become transformative when they address multiple dimensions of justice simultaneously. We identify key principles for enabling just and equitable action. We provide a framework for researchers and practitioners to move beyond identifying climate injustices to offering an actionable roadmap for co-producing equitable climate solutions.