Climate justice is not just ice

► Climate justice involves defining, as well as allocating, risk. ► Risk includes social vulnerability rather than physical change alone. ► The terms inter/intra-generational justice imply risks are equal. ► Rawls’ ideas of justice as fair allocation need to be rethought. ► Sen’s justice based on inclusive deliberation offers a solution. Discussions about climate change and justice frequently employ dichotomies of procedural and distributive justice, and inter- and intra-generational justice. These distinctions, however, often fail to acknowledge the diverse experience of climate risks, or the contested nature of many proposed solutions. This paper argues for a reassessment of debates about climate justice based upon a greater diversity of risks and solutions such as integrating the reduction of social vulnerability simultaneously with mitigation. In effect, this implies reassessing the implicit use of Rawls’ model of justice as fair allocation of predefined risks and solutions, and instead considering Sen’s understanding of justice as inclusive debate about which risks require which solutions.