Thinking about Tomorrow, Acting Today: The Future of Climate Mobility

The global response to climate change is at a crossroads. The United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), in its sixth assessment report summary for policymakers, notes that it is “more likely than not” that global average temperature increase will surpass 1.5 °C in the coming years. As the impacts of climate change threaten to become increasingly severe, it is vital to accelerate climate action that is underpinned by a comprehensive and holistic understanding of human mobility, which is deeply intertwined with all key dimensions of climate adaptation policy, action and implementation. A step change will be required to adopt ways of thinking and acting with a forward-looking perspective. Against this backdrop, this paper highlights how futures thinking, foresight and forecasting can be mobilized to address the challenges that lie ahead for human mobility in the context of climate change.

A summary of the paper can be found here.