The injustice of climate change is startling when you see it mapped out. Ethiopia, for example, is home to one of the most vulnerable populations in the world and is a frequent victim of droughts, heat waves and floods that can be worsened by climate change. At the same time, the country emits less than 1/100th the greenhouse gases per person of the U.S., Canada, Australia or Saudi Arabia.

Sonja Klinsky, an environmental scientist at Arizona State University who studies the justice dilemmas of climate policies, explains in a series of infographics why climate change is a justice issue.

A second article looks at injustice from another angle, examining energy inequality and why countries banning financing for fossil fuel projects in Africa isn’t a climate solution when they still support those projects at home. It’s timely as countries at the U.N. climate conference announce new pledges, including one this morning to end financing for overseas fossil fuel projects.

Also today:

Stacy Morford

Environment + Climate Editor

Street flooding has become a common problem in some communities. wokephoto17/Moment via Getty Images

Climate change is a justice issue – these 6 charts show why

Sonja Klinsky, Arizona State University

Understanding where emissions come from is only one part of the climate justice dilemma.

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  • Global emissions almost back to pre-pandemic levels after unprecedented drop in 2020, new analysis shows

    Pep Canadell, CSIRO; Corinne Le Quéré, University of East Anglia; Glen Peters, Center for International Climate and Environment Research - Oslo; Pierre Friedlingstein, University of Exeter; Robbie Andrew, Center for International Climate and Environment Research - Oslo; Rob Jackson, Stanford University

    Most concerning is the long-term upward trends of CO₂ emissions form burning fossil fuels, which are far from trending towards net-zero by 2050.

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