Climate Change and Social Inequality
By S. Nazrul Islam and John Winkel
This paper is based on a background paper that the authors prepared for the World Economic and Social Survey (WESS) 2016, devoted to the topic, “Building Resilience to Climate Change – An Opportunity to Reduce Inequalities.” The authors would like to thank the WESS team members for their comments. Thanks are also due to the outside experts – in particular, Julie Ann Silva – for their comments and suggestions. Special thanks are due to the two anonymous reviewers who provided excellent comments that led to improvement of the paper. All remaining errors and shortcomings are of the authors. The views expressed in this paper are authors’ personal and need not be ascribed to the organizations to which they belong. Please send your comments to S. Nazrul Islam, the corresponding author, at islamn@un.org
ABSTRACT
This paper offers a unifying conceptual framework for understanding the relationship between climate change and “within-country inequalities,” referred here collectively as “social inequality.” Available evidence indicates that this relationship is characterized by a vicious cycle, whereby initial inequality causes the disadvantaged groups to suffer disproportionately from the adverse effects of climate change, resulting in greater subsequent inequality. The paper identifies three main channels through which the inequality-aggravating effect of climate change materializes, namely (a) increase in the exposure of the disadvantaged groups to the adverse effects of climate change; (b) increase in their susceptibility to damage caused by climate change; and (c) decrease in their ability to cope and recover from the damage suffered. The paper presents evidence to illustrate each of the processes above. It also notes that the same analytical framework can be used to discuss the relationship between climate change and inequality across countries. Finally, it points to the ways in which the analysis can be helpful in making relevant policy decisions.
Keywords: Climate change; inequality; exposure; susceptibility; ability to cope and recover; adaptation.
to read the full article please click on
/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/Climate%20Change%20and%20Social%20Inequality.pdf
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Climate Change and Social Inequality
By S. Nazrul Islam and John Winkel
This paper is based on a background paper that the authors prepared for the World Economic and Social Survey (WESS) 2016, devoted to the topic, “Building Resilience to Climate Change – An Opportunity to Reduce Inequalities.” The authors would like to thank the WESS team members for their comments. Thanks are also due to the outside experts – in particular, Julie Ann Silva – for their comments and suggestions. Special thanks are due to the two anonymous reviewers who provided excellent comments that led to improvement of the paper. All remaining errors and shortcomings are of the authors. The views expressed in this paper are authors’ personal and need not be ascribed to the organizations to which they belong. Please send your comments to S. Nazrul Islam, the corresponding author, at islamn@un.org
ABSTRACT
This paper offers a unifying conceptual framework for understanding the relationship between climate change and “within-country inequalities,” referred here collectively as “social inequality.” Available evidence indicates that this relationship is characterized by a vicious cycle, whereby initial inequality causes the disadvantaged groups to suffer disproportionately from the adverse effects of climate change, resulting in greater subsequent inequality. The paper identifies three main channels through which the inequality-aggravating effect of climate change materializes, namely (a) increase in the exposure of the disadvantaged groups to the adverse effects of climate change; (b) increase in their susceptibility to damage caused by climate change; and (c) decrease in their ability to cope and recover from the damage suffered. The paper presents evidence to illustrate each of the processes above. It also notes that the same analytical framework can be used to discuss the relationship between climate change and inequality across countries. Finally, it points to the ways in which the analysis can be helpful in making relevant policy decisions.
Keywords: Climate change; inequality; exposure; susceptibility; ability to cope and recover; adaptation.
to read the full article please click on
/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/Climate%20Change%20and%20Social%20Inequality.pdf
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