People of colour across the globe bear the brunt of an environmental emergency that, for the most part, they did not create. Yet their struggles have repeatedly been ignored by those in positions of power. Global governance systems, including international climate negotiations, have for decades failed to act to protect the lives of people of colour.
To truly tackle the huge, converging crises and injustices we face, it has never been more important to understand the links between the environmental emergency and systemic racism.
This is why we've teamed up with Greenpeace UK to produce Confronting Injustice. We gathered evidence to show racial inequalities at the heart of the environmental emergency, which has its roots in colonialism, slavery and the plundering of resources in the global South. We show the UK’s historical and ongoing role in this.
Looking at what has happened in Nigeria, Brazil, Turkey and Senegal we show how global extractive economies - with their links to the UK - have caused huge damage to the lives and livelihoods of people of colour, and the role that racism has in the marginalisation of those communities.
Closer to home, we demonstrate how environmental harm in the UK is concentrated in more deprived areas, and also disproportionately impacts people of colour in working class communities.
