Malik, I.H. orcid.org/0000-0002-0979-6362, Ford, J.D. orcid.org/0000-0002-2066-3456 and Hamidi, A.R. orcid.org/0000-0002-6380-516X (2026) A critique of climate objectivity in the context of global injustice. Environmental Research Letters, 21 (1). 011003. ISSN: 1748-9326
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.
Metadata
| Item Type: | Article |
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| Authors/Creators: |
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| Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | © 2026 The Author(s). This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC-BY 4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. |
| Keywords: | climate justice; scientific objectivity; epistemic pluralism; environmental ethics; knowledge politics |
| Dates: |
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| Institution: | The University of Leeds |
| Academic Units: | The University of Leeds > Faculty of Environment (Leeds) > School of Geography (Leeds) The University of Leeds > Faculty of Environment (Leeds) > School of Earth and Environment (Leeds) |
| Date Deposited: | 27 Feb 2026 12:24 |
| Last Modified: | 27 Feb 2026 12:24 |
| Status: | Published |
| Publisher: | IOP Publishing |
| Identification Number: | 10.1088/1748-9326/ae301b |
| Related URLs: | |
| Sustainable Development Goals: | |
| Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:238437 |
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