Climate and Environmental Justice In A Warming World

Prof. M Zahidul Haque

Prof. M Zahidul Haque

At the secondary level in school, we were taught in Civics that a person cannot act purely out of self-interest without regard for their neighbour's well-being. In a civilized society, individual freedom is always balanced — legally and morally — by responsibility toward the community.

Let us imagine two neighbours-- One built a large house by cutting down trees on the street, burning wood for decades to keep energy supply steady. The other lived modestly, barely used any energy at all — yet when the storm came, it was the second neighbour’s roof that caved in. That, in essence, is the moral heart of climate and environmental justice.

Climate justice recognizes a simple but uncomfortable truth: the countries and communities that have contributed the least to greenhouse gas emissions are often the ones suffering the most from climate change’s consequences — rising seas, deadlier cyclones, vanishing freshwater, and collapsing harvests.

Environmental justice extends this idea further, insisting that no community — rich or poor, urban or rural — should have to bear a disproportionate share of environmental harm, whether that's pollution, land degradation, or climate-driven displacement. It isn't just an environmental issue anymore. It’s an issue of fairness, dignity, and survival.

The Present Global Reality

Today, this injustice is painfully visible. Bangladesh, as one of the most climate-vulnerable states in the world, faces the consequences of global inaction with disproportionate severity — rising sea levels threaten to displace millions, salinity intrusion erodes agricultural productivity, intensified cyclones strain national infrastructure, and recurring floods impose heavy economic losses that exceed the state's adaptive capacity. And yet, Bangladesh is responsible for under 0.56% of global emissions, while ranking 9th among the world’s most climate-exposed countries, facing annual financing needs estimated at USD 26 billion.

This gap — between who causes the damage and who pays the price — is the defining wound of the climate era. As one commentary put it plainly, countries like Bangladesh, Fiji, Mozambique, Haiti, Bolivia, and Samoa contribute the least to global emissions yet must borrow money, often at high interest, just to survive climate disasters.

Role of UN toward ensuring Climate Justice

The United Nations, through its climate framework (UNFCCC) and annual COP summits, has been trying — slowly, and often too slowly — to close this gap.

1. The Loss and Damage Fund

Perhaps the most significant recent step is the Fund for Responding to Loss and Damage (FRLD) — a mechanism specifically built to help developing nations recover from climate disasters they didn’t cause. At COP30 in Belém, Brazil in late 2025, the FRLD, created less than two years ago, issued its first $250 million call for proposals, giving a signal for countries to move from pledges to action, while delegates refined guidance focused on enabling direct access and faster disbursement for highly vulnerable countries.

2. Legal Accountability

A landmark moment came in 2025 when the International Court of Justice issued an Advisory Opinion affirming nations binding obligations to mitigate climate change, prevent harm, cooperate, and support vulnerable states — giving climate justice, for the first time, real legal weight rather than just moral appeal.

3. Pushing for Grant-Based, Not Loan-Based, Finance

Vulnerable nations have consistently argued that being handed loans to survive a crisis they didn't create only deepens their debt burden. At COP30, Bangladesh’s delegation told a high-level ministerial dialogue that climate finance for Least Developed Countries must be predictable, grant-based, and rooted in justice to match the scale of devastation in vulnerable nations.

Bangladesh’s Voice at the Table

Bangladesh has not stayed silent. At COP30, its delegation captured the moral urgency of the moment powerfully — as one representative told delegates, “For countries like Bangladesh, this is not diplomacy – this is survival.” The country pushed for a doubling of adaptation finance, greater access to grants, and tangible progress on the long-promised Loss and Damage fund, working alongside other Least Developed Countries and the G77 bloc.

Bangladesh Prime Minister Tarique Rahman is expected to deliver his maiden address to the 81st UN General Assembly, where Bangladesh will continue to promote climate justice and highlight environmental concerns on major international platforms.

Behind every statistic here is a farmer in the haor basin watching floodwater swallow a season’s rice. A family in the coastal belt rebuilding a home for the third time after a cyclone. A fisherman whose catch is dwindling as the water turns saltier each year. Climate justice isn’t an abstract UN policy debate — it’s about whether the global community is willing to stand behind the people who are paying the earliest and heaviest price for a crisis they had almost no hand in creating.

Climate Justice will be tabled in the 81 st UN General Assembly Bangladesh Prime Minister Tarique Rahman is scheduled to deliver his maiden address to the UN General Assembly on September 24, 2026 where Bangladesh will continue to promote climate justice and highlight environmental concerns on major international platforms covering the following areas:

--Climate Action and Finance: He is expected to place strong emphasis on climate action, seeking accessible climate finance, and pushing for global accountability regarding vulnerable nations.

--Vulnerable Populations: He will highlight how women and children bear the brunt of climate-induced natural disasters, urging targeted international support.

--Eco-Friendly Alternatives: The speech is expected to promote the global use of traditional and eco-friendly Bangladeshi jute products as a sustainable alternative to polluting plastics.

--National Initiatives: He will touch upon domestic environmental efforts, including the government’s tree-planting and canal-digging programs aimed at boosting climate resilience.

Conclusion

Climate and environmental justice, at its heart, returns us to that same civics lesson we began with — that no one, and no nation, has the right to prosper at a neighbour’s expense. The world has spent decades building the house on borrowed wood while its most modest neighbors absorb the storms. What has changed, slowly and unevenly, is that this imbalance is no longer just a moral observation whispered in classrooms — it is now backed by legal opinion, international resolutions, and a growing, insistent chorus of vulnerable nations refusing to stay silent.

(Prof. M Zahidul Haque is an Adjunct Faculty of Agricultural Journalism Program, Sher-e-Bangla Agricultural University, Dhaka.)