Climate Justice Rotterdam (CJR)

By project JUSTGREEN

Published on 31 March 2025

Netherlands

Zuid-Holland

Rotterdam

About this good practice

Climate change is a complex issue requiring more than technical solutions. It significantly impacts health and daily life. In Rotterdam, existing inequalities in income, health, housing, environment, ethnicity, and privileges—both between individuals and neighborhoods—will worsen due to climate change, potentially creating new disparities.
The CJR activities are organized by a core team of three civil servants who have permission and funding to dedicate their time to CJR. The main stakeholders of CJR are other civil servants in key positions within the municipality involved in policy-making and projects, as well as external stakeholders working on justice topics. CJR aims to bring the climate justice perspective into policies and projects, ensuring marginalized groups and other residents benefit from better policies and project outcomes.
The Rotterdam Goes for Green policy instrument recognized these threats and started cooperating with CJR within the JustGreen project to leverage their expertise in fighting climate-related inequalities. CJR divides the concept of 'climate justice' into four aspects: social exclusion & discrimination, accessibility of information & communication, impact on well-being, and action perspectives. CJR implements these aspects by creating awareness within the municipality, supporting the intake of social data in technical projects, and gathering insights from marginalized groups to translate back to the municipality.

Expert opinion

Climate change is not only an environmental issue, iit also has profound social consequences, particularly for vulnerable groups. In many European cities, including Rotterdam, climate change is expected to intensify existing inequalities related to income, health, housing, ethnicity, and access to resources. Climate Justice Rotterdam (CJR) is a city-level initiative designed to bring a justice-based approach into Rotterdam’s climate policies and projects. To ensure success, CJR emphasizes the importance of collecting and using relevant data—geographical, demographic, and social—so that policies are informed by the realities of all communities, especially the most vulnerable. This good practice is strongyl aligned with several EU policies, including the European Green Deal, the Climate Adaptation Strategy, and the EU Cohesion Policy. As many cities in Europe could face similar challenges, Rotterdam’s unique approach could be transferred and used in these Municipalities as well.

Magda Michaliková

Works at Interreg Europe Policy Learning Platform

Resources needed

The CJR core team in Rotterdam consists of 5 members: 3 civil servants and 2 external experts. Funded by the municipality's Rotterdam Weatherwise and Water Sensitive programs, 1 person works full-time, and 2 work 75% of their time on CJR. The 2024 external budget was approximately €100,000.

Evidence of success

Through awareness sessions and networking, CJR incorporated climate justice themes into local policy frameworks like the Climate Adaptation Program and the Policy Framework for Societal Living. They developed the Climate Justice Wheel to identify blind spots in municipal policies. CJR participates in various projects, including the Water and Climate Plan, the Green and Healthy Neighborhood Approach, and the Climate Citizens Panel, collaborating with over 40 partners.

Potential for learning or transfer

Other cities can gather insights how a CJR like movement within the city organisation can be started to support policy change. By implementing the Theory of Change, CJR identified the activities needed to facilitate change within the city of Rotterdam; by creating awareness, providing support and helping to bring ideas to practise. Furthermore CJR has developed a practical tool: the CJR Climate Justice Wheel that can be used to provide insights about different perspectives and climate justice aspects. It gives the users insight in blind spots in policies and how to incorporate these blind spots in future policies to make them more inclusive for all residents.
For successful use, it is necessary to start collecting the relevant data (geographical, demographical, social), to incorporate all different relevant aspects in just climate policies.