Abstract

Global climate action remains limited in its efforts to include people with disabilities, despite them being amongst the most acutely affected by climate change impacts such as flooding or extreme heat. If climate and air quality action is to be truly inclusive and sustainable, it must integrate the perspectives, voices, needs and priorities of the disability community and their rights in climate policy.

This resource pack is designed to help cities understand the need for disability mainstreaming in climate action and to outline the opportunities and first steps in getting started. Three action areas in particular offer immense opportunity for delivering more inclusive and equitable climate and air quality action in cities – transport and mobility, just energy transition and disaster risk management. 

The resource pack brings together a factsheet making the case for disability mainstreaming in city climate action, and three policy papers, one covering each of the three action areas outlined above.

Factsheet: Making the case for disability inclusion in climate action

• This factsheet provides guidance for mayors and municipal governments to understand what ‘disability’ is and why disability inclusion should be mainstreamed across their city’s climate and air quality action.
• It contains three main sections explaining the need, rationale, and opportunity for mainstreaming disability inclusion into city climate action.

Policy paper: Mainstreaming disability inclusion through disaster risk management (DRM) in cities

• Understanding the relationship between climate impacts that cities are facing, why disaster risk management is a fundamental part of delivering climate action, and the importance of mainstreaming disability inclusion within urban disaster risk management.
• The typical barriers faced by people with disabilities, both during and after disasters and therefore the implications for ensuring the meaningful participation of people with disabilities and representation of their needs in the design and delivery of local disaster preparedness measures for responding to and recovering from climate impacts.
• A range of strategies that cities and other stakeholders can implement to help overcome the barriers to disability inclusion in disaster risk management with examples from cities around the world and useful resources that provide further information signposted where relevant.

Policy paper: Mainstreaming disability inclusion through mobility action in cities

• An overview of the importance of mainstreaming disability inclusion within transport and mobility action in cities around the world.
• An outline of the typical barriers faced by people with disabilities in the context of mobility in cities.
• A range of strategies that cities and other stakeholders can implement to help overcome the barriers to disability inclusion through mobility action.
• A range inspirational case studies from cities already working on disability inclusion within transport and mobility policy.

Policy paper: Mainstreaming disability inclusion in the energy transition (Coming soon)