Are Climate Policies Deepening Environmental Inequalities? A Politico-Geographical Perspective

Abstract

Climate change is widely framed as a universal environmental challenge, yet its impacts and policy responses remain deeply uneven across space and society. While climate policies are designed to mitigate environmental degradation and promote sustainability, growing evidence suggests that they may also reproduce or intensify existing environmental inequalities. This paper examines climate policies through the lens of political geography to explore how power relations, spatial arrangements, and governance structures shape unequal environmental outcomes. Focusing on global and Global South contexts, the study argues that climate policies are not politically neutral instruments but are embedded within territorial priorities, economic interests, and institutional asymmetries. Through the integrating of policy analysis with spatial inequality frameworks, the paper highlights how mitigation and adaptation strategies often privilege certain regions, sectors, and social groups while marginalizing others. The study draws on secondary data from international climate reports, development indicators, and policy documents to demonstrate how uneven policy implementation contributes to differentiated vulnerability. The paper concludes that without addressing underlying political and spatial inequalities, climate policies risk reinforcing environmental injustice rather than resolving it.