Building a Case for Disability-Inclusive Local Climate Action.

By 2050, over one billion people with disabilities are projected to be living in cities, which are hotspots for climate change impacts (UN Habitat, 2022; UCLG and WBU, 2024). As over 150 cities across the world now have a verified, Paris Agreement-compatible Climate Action Plan, with more cities joining the movement, there is a real need and an opportunity for simultaneously planning, implementing, and strengthening urban inclusion and urban resilience by integrating a disability lens within local climate action (C40 Cities, 2025; Scores and A Lists - Cities A List, 2025). The Global Disability Innovation Hub (GDI Hub) presents this White Paper titled ‘Building a Case for Disability-Inclusive Local Climate’ as an effort to synthesise available insights at this intersection and frame a narrative for future research, innovation, and action.

A systematic narrative literature review at the intersection of disability rights and local climate action has revealed a list of sixteen disability rights, directly aligned with the articles of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UN CRPD) (2008), as to be threatened or influenced by climate change impacts. Of these, ten with substantial evidence or arguments are discussed in Section 2. This includes: 1) the right to life, 2) the right to health, 3) the right to food, 4) the right to water and sanitation, 5) the right to accessibility, 6) the right to housing, 7) the right to work and livelihood, 8) the right to personal mobility, 9) the right to protection and safety under risk, and 10) the right to independent living and community inclusion. 

To operationalise the above-listed rights and other relevant thematic areas to be uncovered in the upcoming stages of the research, and advance disability-inclusive local climate action, GDI Hub proposes the following three guiding principles:

1. Position people with disabilities as equal rights-bearers as against framing them merely as beneficiaries, stakeholders, or vulnerable individuals.
2. Acknowledge the role of diversity, intersectionality, and intergenerational equity in risks and needs assessment, and holistically address them.
3. Embrace transformative whole-of-society approaches that will address the root causes for excluding people with disabilities and growing emission-intensive urban development. 

In alignment with the guiding principles, GDI Hub proposes that cities adopt and promote inclusive design and innovation as a mindset and methodology for local climate action, complemented by a framework covering pathways for participation, planning, and practice. 

• Participation pathway shall cover strategies to enhance direct, equal, and meaningful engagement of people with disabilities and OPDs in local climate action.
• Planning pathway shall focus on co-creating and integrating inclusive tools, methodologies, and standards for local climate action.
• Practice pathway shall aim to strengthen capacity, resources, and inclusive mechanisms for local climate action implementation.

• Comprehensively, this will guide cities to embrace the strengths and lived experiences of diverse members of the community, including people with disabilities, and address their unique needs collaboratively in the context of climate change and exacerbated barriers.

  GDI Hub’s ongoing global research titled ‘State of Disability Inclusion in Local Climate Action and the Pathways for Transformation’ will build on this White Paper and bring together insights from people with disabilities, climate practitioners, OPDs, and climate action plans from thirteen cities across the globe. Representing diverse geographic characteristics and scale, climate risks, and development contexts, the list includes Auckland (New Zealand), Dhaka (Bangladesh), Durban (South Africa), Honiara (Solomon Islands), Istanbul (Turkey), Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia), London (England), Mumbai (India), Nairobi (Kenya), New York City (United States of America), Sao Paulo (Brazil), Dakar (Senegal), and Toronto (Canada).