Abstract
In 2015, at the United Nations Conference of the Parties in Paris,
France, countries agreed to limit the global mean surface temperature
(GMST) increase to 2°C above preindustrial levels, and to pursue efforts
to limit it to 1.5°C. However, risks from sea level rise are not well
encapsulated by temperature targets. Near term emissions will dictate
long term sea level rise responses, but the tendency for policy and
negotiations to concentrate on the year 2100 can limit our understanding
of intergenerational justice concerns arising from this commitment. Here
we present an analysis of the long term spatial variability of sea level
rise, and an interdisciplinary review of associated justice
considerations from across a wide range of literatures. We center the
positioning of the Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS) to show that
AOSIS nations are disproportionately impacted by sea level rise, and
that ice sheet instabilities, which could dominate the long term trend
in sea level, are associated with feedbacks which can potentially
exacerbate climate justice implications.