Global Climate Justice: developing and operationalising a critical framework to embed the environment into global social policy

简介随着IPCC的最新数据清楚地表明气候变化将产生迫在眉睫的广泛影响，不无道理地辩称，目前抗击气候危机的努力还不够。考虑到深远的影响，需要进行更多的研究(和行动)，涉及新的视角，并采取跨学科的方法来参与气候变化的全方位性质的研究。尽管IPCC确定，人类与气候的相互依存程度比之前认为的更强，但通过概念化或衡量社会和环境结果的方式很少。通过将环境问题纳入社会政策，可能会发生尚未开发的变革性变化。社会政策既有可能缓解气候变化的最坏影响，又有可能为一个新的、可持续的未来奠定基础。因此，本论文旨在利用这一机会。研究问题在全球社会政策的学术研究和环境与社会政策的交叉之间存在着明显的差距。在将气候正义作为一个概念框架来确定这些广泛的学科可能相互联系之后，它引出了两个相互关联的研究问题：全球社会政策能否在一个关键的气候正义框架内被概念化？如果是，这个框架会是什么样子？然后，为了使这些研究问题具有可操作性，又提出了另外两个问题，这两个问题引发了更多的经验性探索：国家是否与气候正义的原则保持一致？如果是，哪些国家是最先进的？第三和第四个研究问题涉及实证方法，并通过绘制当前气候变化协议未能达到目标的可能原因来提供知识。这些发现还为未来的研究提供了一条途径，即如何调整当前的政策，以便更好地为全球气候正义提供信息。希望这一结果将导致制定更多由社会驱动的政策，以帮助解决气候变化的全球影响。研究设计为了回答这两组研究问题，研究将分为三个阶段；采用三角测量的混合方法。第一阶段将结合进行访谈的定性方法，作为关键框架开发过程的一部分。第二阶段将通过从政策文件中收集和统计与框架一致的证据，使用量化方法来实施框架。然而，结果的量化不会被视为最终的研究结果，将进行更多访谈的进一步定性步骤，为更好地了解调查结果提供意义和背景。伦理含义在本论文的第一和第三阶段，在设计访谈时，将考虑对参与者造成伤害、缺乏知情同意、侵犯隐私和欺骗这四个关键伦理原则的认识。然而，当使用政策文件作为第二阶段的数据时，这些原则不适用。这是因为数据可以在公共领域内访问和随时获得，并且没有禁止将其用于研究目的。影响和对知识的贡献本论文将通过两种方式为知识做出贡献。首先是创建和测试一个关键框架的方法论贡献，该框架结合了全球社会政策、环境正义和气候正义的研究领域。第二个贡献是在全球社会政策中将环境概念化。这可能导致关于利用全球社会政策作为减轻气候变化负面影响的工具的具体结果。

IntroductionWith the latest data from the IPCC clearly showing the imminent and widespread impact that climate change will have, it is not without cause to argue that current efforts to combat the climate crisis are not enough. Given the far-reaching impacts, more research (and action) is needed that involves new perspectives and takes an interdisciplinary approach to engage with the all-encompassing nature of climate change.Despite it being determined by the IPCC that humans and the climate are more strongly interdependent than previously thought, there is very little by way of conceptualising or measuring social and environmental outcomes together. By embedding environmental issues into social policy, transformative change could occur that, as yet, has been untapped. Social policy has the potential to both mitigate the worst effects of climate change and lay the foundations for a new, sustainable future. As such, this thesis aims to make use of this opportunity.Research questionsThere is a clear gap between scholarship on global social policy and how the environment intersects with social policy. After identifying that these broad disciplines may be connected using climate justice as a conceptual framework, it gives rise to two, interrelated, research questions:Can global social policy be conceptualised within a critical climate justice framework?If so, what would that framework look like?Then, in order to operationalise these research questions, a further two questions are asked that invite a more empirical exploration:Are nation states aligning themselves with the principles of climate justice?If so, which countries are the most advanced?The third and fourth research questions engage with empirical methods and contribute to knowledge by mapping possible reasons why current climate change agreements are falling short of their targets. The findings also provide a pathway for future research into how current policies may be adapted to be better informed by global climate justice. It is hoped that this outcome will lead to more socially-driven policies being made to help solve the global impacts of climate change.Research DesignIn order to answer both sets of research questions, the research will be broken down into three phases; engaging a mixed methods approach of triangulation. Phase 1 will combine the qualitative method of conducting interviews as part of the critical framework development process. Phase 2 will use quantitative methods to operationalise the framework, by collecting and counting evidence aligning with the framework from policy documents. However, the quantification of the results will not be seen as the final research result and a further qualitative step of more interviews will be conducted, providing meaning and context to better inform the findings. Ethical ImplicationsRecognition of the four key ethical principles of participant harm, lack of informed consent, invasion of privacy and deception will be taken into account when designing the interviews during phases one and three in this thesis. However, these principles do not apply when using policy documents as data for Phase 2. This is due to the data being accessible and readily available within the public domain, with no prohibitions on its use for research purposes.Impact and contribution to knowledgeThis thesis will contribute to knowledge in two ways. Firstly, there is the methodological contribution of creating and testing a critical framework that combines the research areas of global social policy, environmental justice and climate justice.The second is the contribution of conceptualising the environment within global social policy. This could lead to specific outcomes regarding the use of global social policy as a tool for mitigating the negative impacts of climate change.