Research & Article

This article aims to explore and critically examine the trajectory of climate change studies within the social sciences and humanities since the year 2000. It identifies three major directions of inquiry: ontology, epistemology, and justice. From an ontological perspective (What is climate?), scholarship has focused on the relationships between climate and socio-cultural life. This work reveals climate as, on the one hand, an unruly planetary actor that resists governance, and, on the other hand, a socially constructed entity that is more-than-climate. The nature of climate thus emerges as multi-situated, multi-faceted, and multi-scalar. From an epistemological perspective (How is climate understood?), scholars examine the interactions among knowledge, institutions, and policies that give rise to climate governance at the international level. This includes analysis of the processes through which climate knowledge is produced, highlighting both the inclusions and exclusions of particular forms of knowledge. From a justice perspective (Who benefits and who loses from climate governance?), attention is directed toward the fairness of proposed solutions, for instance, who is rendered more vulnerable by mitigation and adaptation strategies, while also considering the capitalist and colonial processes underpinning capital accumulation. The article concludes by reflecting on the possibilities, limitations, and likely trajectories of future climate change research in the social sciences and humanities.