The Future of Climate Justice: Integrating Environmental Philosophy, International Law and Sustainable Development Goals

Abstract

Climate change increasingly threatens natural resources that underpin human health, including clean water, food systems, medicinal biodiversity, healthy ecosystems and climate-regulating landscapes. At the same time, responsibility for greenhouse-gas emissions, exposure to environmental harm and access to adaptation resources remain unevenly distributed. This review integrates environmental philosophy, international law and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to develop a natural-resources-centred framework for climate justice and human health. A structured interdisciplinary narrative review was undertaken using major climate-science assessments, international legal instruments, judicial opinions, UN policy documents and peer-reviewed scholarship on environmental justice, ecosystem health, food and water security, biodiversity and just transition. The synthesis shows that distributive, procedural, recognitional, capabilities, intergenerational and ecological justice converge around five operational priorities: equitable burden sharing, meaningful participation, protection of health-supporting natural resources, intergenerational stewardship and accountable finance, technology and remedies. Recent international climate jurisprudence strengthens duties of prevention, due diligence, cooperation and science-informed action. Mapping these principles
onto SDGs 2, 3, 6, 7, 10, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16 and 17 demonstrates that climate justice is inseparable from sustainable management of natural resources and
prevention of climate-sensitive health risks. Future climate governance should therefore assess carbon outcomes together with water, food, biodiversity, ecosystem-service and health-equity indicators.