Changing Climate, Static Society? A survey of equity, justice and vulnerability in U.S. Municipal Climate Plans

Abstract

This project presents survey of municipal climate plans in the United States to determine the existing relationship between climate adaptation planning and understandings of social justice, environmental justice, and vulnerability. The results indicate that while justice and vulnerability considerations are not absent in US municipal climate planning, the current framework for discussing and strategizing for justice and vulnerability is wanting, and lead me to provide the following conclusions: First, the type of plan can impact how policymakers frame and consider justice and vulnerability; Second, planning for climate change is more a function of who is at the decision-making table than city-characteristics like demographics; and Lastly, vulnerable populations and their representatives must be more strongly integrated into the planning process to ensure they are not rendered absent from the plans entirely. The article concludes with suggestions for future research on this rapidly growing and increasingly important topic. Climate change is the single largest challenge of our, and future generations’ time. In not fully addressing issues of equity and justice, these plans do not adequately prepare their communities to be resilient or sustainable in the face of climate change.