Intersectionality and Adaptation Justice in Sweden

Where are We - and Where Next?

Resumé

Intersectional and justice approaches to climate adaptation are increasingly recognized by scholars and policymakers as essential for understanding the complexities of climate vulnerability and preventing the exacerbation of inequalities. Yet little research to date explores what intersectional adaptation justice entails in Sweden, a country often perceived as highly equal and relatively invulnerable to climate impacts. Drawing on a narrative literature review of research on environmental and climate justice in Sweden, we identify emerging narratives, examine their focal subjects, and explore what they illuminate. We then assess the limitations of these approaches for adaptation justice and explore how intersectionality can broaden justice conceptualizations in affluent contexts. Our review reveals that environmental and climate justice research in Sweden remains geographically and demographically narrow with limited engagement with justice dimensions. Moreover, adaptation is scarcely addressed within these literatures. We argue that applying intersectionality can help adaptation justice research move beyond limited categories of difference, foster more critical understandings of justice, bridge justice concerns across spatial and temporal scales, and enable more nuanced analyses of power and privilege. We conclude that intersectionality offers significant potential to advance adaptation justice research and call for more empirical studies to explore its application in practice.