Presbyterians for Earth Care June Webinar

Climate Migrants: Neglected Victims of Climate Injustice

WEBINAR DATE: Tuesday, June 9, 2026

TIME: 7:30 pm Eastern / 6:30 Central

PRESENTER: Dr. Paul Clements, Western Michigan University

In recent years the United Nations, the European Union, the US government, and the media have indicated that there could be 200 million people displaced from their homes and livelihoods by effects of climate change by the year 2050, but my research finds that 500 million is a more likely estimate. This would be about 5% of Earth’s population.

Global responses to climate change have always been inadequate and today international cooperation generally and development assistance in particular are in deep crisis. Nevertheless, it is important to aim for climate justice. This presentation will address five topics:

(1) international cooperation on climate change since 1992 and its neglect of climate migrants,

(2) estimates of potential climate migration through 2050,

(3) the problematic focus of the American climate justice movement on injustices within the US,

(4) the stronger global government needed to address the climate crisis, and

(5) how Americans could take responsibility for impacts of our carbon pollution.