Faster, further, fairer: Putting people at the heart of tackling the climate and nature emergency

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The Environmental Justice Commission was founded with the recognition that action to address the climate and nature crises need not be about staving off the worst, but can instead be about imagining a better world which we can build together. A future where people and nature can thrive, centred on good jobs and meaningful work, low carbon businesses, and where inequalities are reduced and opportunities offered to all. A future where progress is measured by the quality of life, security and wellbeing of all citizens as well as the health of our natural world.

It is the view of the commission, however, that not only is time running out to address the disaster of the climate crises and the degradation of nature, but that there is also a deficit of positive ambition about what transforming to a clean, healthy and environmentally rich economy could mean to citizens here and abroad. The commission aims to provide this ambition by articulating a vision for a renewed economy and a clear pathway of action of how to get there, through a rapid and fair transition which puts people at its heart.

This interim report of the IPPR Environmental Justice Commission finds that to act with the ambition and at the scale that the climate and nature emergency demands, requires a new approach. An approach where we take faster action to tackle the climate and nature crisis, go further in the transformation of our economy and deliver a fairer transition for all. Central to the ethos of the commission is the recognition that there is an inextricable link between addressing the climate and nature emergency and tackling economic and social injustice.

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