Climate Change and Care Work: Integrated solutions for intersecting crises

There is a fundamental link between the act of caring for people and caring for the planet. Both are essential for human survival.

The policy brief, Climate Change and Care Work: Integrated solutions for intersecting crises explores these interconnections and their implications for public policy.

It shows how both climate change and care work are exploited in the pursuit of short-term economic and material profit. It shows how the devastating impacts of climate change and environmental degradation are outcomes of these exploits, as are the immense social and gender inequalities arising from the exploitation of care labor.

Moreover, repercussions of climate change are intensifying demands for care work, while also weakening the care-related services, institutions, networks, and infrastructures that have already been fragmented by geopolitical trends like colonialism, patriarchy, austerity measures, conflict, and migration.

The global community’s efforts to adapt to and mitigate the changing climate and environment have insufficiently recognized the necessity of care work for human and ecosystem survival and community resilience. Even more, mitigation and adaptation solutions often reinforce inequalities in care labor, placing even more of the climate change burden onto minoritized groups, particularly women, girls, and structurally disadvantaged populations in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). To fully address these disparities, incorporating an intersectional perspective can help to better understand how multiple factors, such as gender, ethnicity, and socioeconomic status, may interact to intensify the vulnerabilities faced by these groups.

As policymakers navigate these intersecting crises, it is essential to address them holistically.

Climate change cannot be addressed without also recognizing the essential role of care work; redistributing the inequalities of care labor; and rebuilding political, economic, and social structures to support quality care and choice of care. Therefore, integrating care work into climate policy is essential for addressing both the immediate and longterm challenges of these inter-related crises.