What is Climate Mobility?
Climate change and ecological disasters are impacting the habitability of the planet - which is the suitability of a place to support life and livelihoods. The effects of slow-onset climate change events (such as sea-level rise and desertification) as well as rapid-onset climate events (such as storms and floods), are re-shaping the habitability of our planet.
In this context, climate mobility refers to the full spectrum of mobility and immobility impacts that climate change is having on habitability. This includes temporary and permanent migration, forced displacement, planned relocation, and situations of immobility.
Why do we need Climate Mobility Justice?
The UK’s Joint Intelligence committee’s nature security assessment on global biodiversity loss from January 2026 cites migration as a foreseeable risk from ecosystem collapse and global biodiversity loss. Despite being recognised as one of the defining governance challenges of the 21st century, governance structures remain unprepared to address climate mobility. States lack a legal and policy architecture that defines, plans for, and assigns rights, responsibilities and resources in response to climate mobility.
Without a clear and coherent legal and policy framework governing climate mobility, States are left to react arbitrarily through short-term crisis response, rather than planning and deploying strategic, long-term resilient responses to foreseen demographic and environmental changes.
Our Goal – Climate Resilient Governance
The Institute’s work is grounded in the climate justice concept of habitability. When climate mobility is approached through the lens of habitability, it is not simply a question of migration or displacement. It becomes a question of how law and policy can safeguard habitability and agency, by providing choice on whether to stay or move in the face of climate events.
Our goal is to ensure States have climate resilient governance frameworks capable of safeguarding habitability. Climate Mobility Justice means having a coherent legal and policy architecture governing climate mobility which (i) simultaneously strengthens the right of climate-vulnerable communities to remain in place where desired and feasible, (ii) while also expanding safe and legal pathways for mobility when it becomes necessary, beneficial, or inevitable.