Climate Migrants: Neglected Victims of Climate Injustice

Climate Migrants: Neglected Victims of Climate Injustice

In recent years the United Nations, the European Union, the US government, and the media have indicated that there could be 200 million people displaced from their homes and livelihoods by effects of climate change by the year 2050, but my research finds that 500 million is a more likely estimate. This would be about 5% of Earth’s population.

Global responses to climate change have always been inadequate and today international cooperation generally and development assistance in particular are in deep crisis. Nevertheless, it is important to aim for climate justice. This presentation will address five topics: (1) international cooperation on climate change since 1992 and its neglect of climate migrants, (2) estimates of potential climate migration through 2050, (3) the problematic focus of the American climate justice movement on injustices within the US, (4) the stronger global government needed to address the climate crisis, and (5) how Americans could take responsibility for impacts of our carbon pollution.

WEBINAR DATE: Tuesday, June 9, 2026
Time: 7:30 pm Eastern (6:30 Central, 5:30 Mountain, 4:30 Pacific)
PRESENTER: Dr. Paul Clements, Western Michigan University

SPEAKER BIO

Paul Clements is a Professor of Political Science at Western Michigan University where he directs Master of International Development Administration and graduate certificate in Climate Change Policy and Management programs. He received a BA in Social Studies from Harvard University and a PhD in Public Affairs from Princeton University and has published widely on development project evaluation and climate justice. In 2014 and 2016 he was the Democratic candidate for Congress in Michigan’s Sixth District and in 2024 he was lead organizer for an on-line symposium on Climate-Driven Migration: Challenges, Responses and Future Pathways with over 100 presenters and 392 participants from 52 countries.

Please use this Zoom link to attend the webinar at the start time: