Global environmental change II: Political economies of vulnerability to climate change

Abstract

Vulnerability to climate change is, at its core, a question of political economics, albeit this
is never stated. Using a political-economic perspective, this progress report reads recent
studies on climate change vulnerability. It reads the studies as illuminating the dynamics at
work in the relationship between vulnerability conceptions, vulnerability-causing
institutions, and people with vested interests in vulnerability. It draws attention to studies
that cast doubt on the concept of vulnerability while showing how vulnerable people may
exert agency in navigating the complex web of interrelated institutions that determine how
they will adapt to climate change. In addition, the study showcases studies that follow how
influential groups and organisations that make people vulnerable are changing to fit in,
taking up the cause of the vulnerable, removing politics from the issue, and advocating for
financial and market innovations to fix the problem. Political and economic institutions are
surviving and even thriving in this climate change era, thanks to these practices, while the
most vulnerable people are bearing the brunt of the consequences.