The inequality of climate change and the difference it makes

Because climate change occurs in a deeply unequal world, pre-existing inequalities act as a catalyst in exacerbating the impact of climate change on those already worse-off. In fact, the greater the pre-existing inequality that interacts with climate change, the worse the effects of climate change on those who suffer from such pre-existing inequality. This chapter makes this scalar case to argue that inequality in climate change is essentially an intersectional issue. The worst effects of climate change are felt by those who are severely and severally disadvantaged already. The chapter maps out the structure of intersectionality theory against the structures of inequality emergent in climate change. It argues that climate change may fail to be captured in either universalist or single-axis conceptions of equality and that an accurate understanding of inequality in this context may be accessible through intersectionality alone.