A critique of climate objectivity in the context of global injustice
Abstract
Abstract As climate science intersects with rising political urgency and global ecological crisis, calls for ‘neutrality’ risk obscuring the field’s entanglement with systems of power, historical dispossession, and structural inequality. This article challenges conventional framings of scientific objectivity, arguing that justice, accountability, and epistemic pluralism are not threats to scientific credibility but conditions of its ethical and societal relevance. Drawing on interdisciplinary insights, it advances a vision of climate science that is reflexive, engaged, and responsive to the unequal burdens of climate disruption. Amid compounding climate injustices, detachment is not a position of neutrality but a failure to engage with the responsibilities of knowledge production.
Fields of Study & Subjects
Climate Change and Geoengineering
Climate Change Communication and Perception
Sustainability and Climate Change Governance
Publication details
- Journal / source
- Environmental Research Letters
- Publisher
- IOP Publishing
- Volume
- 21
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 011003–011003
- Publication date
- 1 January 2026
- Language
- EN