A critique of climate objectivity in the context of global injustice

Abstract As climate science intersects with rising political urgency and global ecological crisis, calls for ‘neutrality’ risk obscuring the field’s entanglement with systems of power, historical dispossession, and structural inequality. This article challenges conventional framings of scientific objectivity, arguing that justice, accountability, and epistemic pluralism are not threats to scientific credibility but conditions of its ethical and societal relevance. Drawing on interdisciplinary insights, it advances a vision of climate science that is reflexive, engaged, and responsive to the unequal burdens of climate disruption. Amid compounding climate injustices, detachment is not a position of neutrality but a failure to engage with the responsibilities of knowledge production.

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Publication Details

Journal
Environmental Research Letters
Published
2026-01-01
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/ae301b
Citations
1
Primary Topic
Climate Change and Geoengineering
Type
article
Field-Weighted Citation Impact
36.62
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article

A critique of climate objectivity in the context of global injustice

Abdur Rahim Hamidi, Ishfaq Hussain Malik, James D Ford
1 citations
Environmental Research Letters
Climate Change and Geoengineering
36.62
article

A critique of climate objectivity in the context of global injustice

Abdur Rahim Hamidi, Ishfaq Hussain Malik, James D Ford
article en
1 citations

Abstract

Abstract As climate science intersects with rising political urgency and global ecological crisis, calls for ‘neutrality’ risk obscuring the field’s entanglement with systems of power, historical dispossession, and structural inequality. This article challenges conventional framings of scientific objectivity, arguing that justice, accountability, and epistemic pluralism are not threats to scientific credibility but conditions of its ethical and societal relevance. Drawing on interdisciplinary insights, it advances a vision of climate science that is reflexive, engaged, and responsive to the unequal burdens of climate disruption. Amid compounding climate injustices, detachment is not a position of neutrality but a failure to engage with the responsibilities of knowledge production.

Environmental Research LettersVol. 21(1)
University of Leeds (GB)
Climate action
Openalex Percentile: Top 2%
Climate Change and Geoengineering
36.62
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