Keele’s Professor Robert Ladrech joined a climate justice initiative in New York City to help propose solutions to ‘environmental injustice’ to the United Nations Climate Change Summit 2019.

Ahead of the Summit Professor Ladrech, Head of The School of Social, Political and Global Studies, attended an executive committee meeting with the UNited for Climate Justice initiative by the Foundation of European Progressive Studies, which is dedicated to providing answers to social challenges and to helping the most marginalised and disadvantaged communities being affected by climate change and environmental injustice.

The initiative chaired by Teresa Ribera, the Spanish Minister for the Ecological Transformation, brought together academics, expert policy advisors, politicians and other stakeholders to identify a multidisciplinary approach to provide answers to climate injustice.

The committee developed a guiding set of proposals to tackle these social challenges, that were then presented to the UN Climate Change Summit in the following days.

Professor Ladrech, Head of School of Social, Political and Global Studies, said: “Any initiative to close the gap between what people want regarding climate justice and what governments actually do is not only worthwhile but urgent. The UNited for Climate Justice initiative is such an effort and the reality voiced by many at the event of the political resistance to a just energy transition was sobering.”