Places of Contestation: Locating Racial Inequalities inClimate and Transition Risks in the UK

Climate change is a present, irreversible, and fundamentalthreat to daily life that will worsen existing inequalities inthe UK, including racial inequality. Limiting this threatrequires a rapid and extensive shift away from fossil fueluse across sectors-buildings, transport, agriculture,manufacturing, energy, and water use. However, theimpacts of transition to a decarbonised society andeconomy are also unevenly distributed, and the negativeeffects on poor and marginalised groups are likely toincrease as transition measures become more far-reaching.A 'just transition' seeks to ensure transition benefits aregained by those most in need, and that the costs do notunfairly weigh on those least able to pay. This concept canfeel remote; separated from everyday experience.This research project aims to make the ongoing climatetransition more just by considering its intersections withrace, ethnicity, and social inequality in the UK. To that end,it will deploy qualitative and ethnographic methods toexplore the understanding, experience, and impact ofclimate and transition risks as they are manifested inplace.