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Cited by 405Environmental law and policyEnvironmental Justice and Health DisparitiesPolitical Philosophy and Ethics

Environmental justice and the SDGs: from synergies to gaps and contradictions

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Menton, Mary, Larrea, Carlos, Latorre, Sara, Martinez-Alier, Joan, Peck, Mika, Temper, Leah, Walter, Mariana·2020·Sustainability Science
DOI 10.1007/s11625-020-00789-8
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Abstract

Through their synergies, trade-offs, and contradictions, the sustainable development goals (SDGs) have the potential to lead to environmental justices and injustices. Yet, environmental justice (EJ), and social justice more broadly, are not currently embedded within the language and spirit of the SDGs. We part from the premise that “many ‘environmental’ problems are, by their very nature, problems of justice” (Lele, Wiley Interdiscip Rev Water 4:e1224, 2017). We review progress in EJ frameworks in recent years, arguing for the need to move beyond a focus on the four principles of mainstream EJ (distribution, procedure, recognition, and capabilities) towards a more intersectional decolonial approach to environmental justice that recognises the indispensability of both humans and non-humans. EJ frameworks, and the SDGs should recognise power dynamics, complex interactions among injustices, and listens to the different ‘senses of justice’ and desires of theorists, activists, and other stakeholder from the Global South. We analyze how EJ frameworks are, or fail to be, incorporated in the SDGs with a focus on the food–water–health nexus (SDG2, 3, 6); climate-energy (SDG7, 13), conservation (SDG14, 15); and poverty and inequality (SDG1, 10). We call attention to the ‘elephant in the room’—the failure to go beyond GDP but instead include economic growth as a goal (SDG8). We argue that sustainable degrowth and intersectional decolonial environmental justices would create better conditions for the transformative changes needed to reach the broader aim of the SDGs: to leave no one behind.

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  • Mainstream environmental justice scholars are moving away from state-centered developmentalism and materialist ontology.

    “Mainstream environmental justice scholars, however, are moving away from this position (Temper, 2019; Menton et al., 2020)”

    From The political ecologies of "green" extractivism(s): An introduction (2024) · cites this paper as Menton et al., 2020

    The ‘Environmental justice frameworks’ section describes a general shift in EJ scholarship, and the ‘Abolitionist and decolonial environmental justice’ section discusses approaches that move beyond reliance on the liberal state and the human–nature divide. But the paper distinguishes these approaches from mainstream EJ; it does not say that mainstream scholars specifically are moving away from state-centered developmentalism and materialist ontology. (LLM, conf=0.86)

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Cited by

Sorted by citations

  • The political ecologies of "green" extractivism(s): An introduction

    Dunlap, A., Verweijen, J., & Tornel, C. (2024) · Journal of Political Ecology · doi:10.2458/jpe.6131 · Cited by 126 · see citing works

    “…framework to raise critical concern over wind energy development (Zografos & Martínez-Alier, 2009) and to systematically expose the harms behind so-called 'green', 'clean', and lower-carbon infrastructure projects (Avila 2017, 2018; Menton et al. 2020; Temper et al. 2020; Batel & Küpers 2022).”
    Background

Authors
Menton, M., Larrea, C., Latorre, S., Martinez-Alier, J., Peck, M., Temper, L., & Walter, M.
Affiliations
  • University of Sussex (GB)
  • Universidad Andina Simón Bolívar, Sede Ecuador (EC)
  • Facultad Latinoamericana de Ciencias Ecuador (EC)
  • McGill University (CA)
  • Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (ES)
Corresponding author
Menton, Mary
ORCID
Venue
Sustainability Science
Publisher
Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Published
2020-04-09
Volume
15
Issue
6
Pages
1621-1636
ISSN
  • 1862-4057 (ISSN-L)
  • 1862-4065
DOI
10.1007/s11625-020-00789-8
OpenAlex
W3016195942
Cited by
405
References
6
Citations by year
2026: 47 · 2025: 78 · 2024: 82 · 2023: 66 · 2022: 57 · 2021: 52 · 2020: 17 · 2016: 6
FWCI
314.76
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Licence
Locations
  • Sustainability Science (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • ENLIGHTEN (Jurnal Bimbingan dan Konseling Islam) (acceptedVersion, cc-by-sa)
  • Dipòsit Digital de Documents de la UAB (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
  • Sussex Research Online (University of Sussex) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
  • Figshare (submittedVersion, cc-by)
Funders
University of Sussex
Topics
  • Social Sciences › Law › Environmental law and policy
  • Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Environmental Justice and Health Disparities
  • Social Sciences › Political Science and International Relations › Political Philosophy and Ethics
Keywords
environmental justice, Sustainable Development Goals, social justice, intersectionality, climate-energy nexus, poverty and inequality, degrowth, non-human agency, Global South perspectives, leaving no one behind, economic growth

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