Kicking Off a Week of Action to Advance “Open for Climate Justice”

Written By Nick Shockey

Today kicks off this year’s International Open Access Week with its theme of “Open for Climate Justice.” This year’s theme builds on the important previous Open Access Week discussions centered around knowledge equity. Climate Justice is an equity issue, and “Open for Climate Justice” explores the ways openness can create pathways to more equitable knowledge sharing and serve as a means to address the inequities that shape the impacts of climate change and our response to them.

In the lead up to this week and in the events planned over the coming days, it is clear that more connection and collaboration among the climate movement and the international open community is taking root—from the institutional to the global level. 

Many institutions are hosting local discussions highlighting faculty working to address climate change and Climate Justice as well as the importance of openly sharing this work. Policymakers are connecting the importance of open research in addressing the climate crisis, and an international campaign has been launched to promote open access to research to accelerate progress towards solving the climate crisis and preserving global biodiversity.

To get a sense of how these connections between open and Climate Justice are being made—and will be made this week—you can find a selection of examples from across the world below:

  • What is Climate Justice? A Pre-OA Week Webcast: this event introduced this year’s theme and explained the underlying concept of Climate Justice.

  • #SemanticClimate: a group of early career scientists from India are developing tools and processes to make the 10,000 page IPCC report semantic, including a semantic index and annotation. 

  • The Open Climate Campaign: a multi-year campaign to open up diverse types of knowledge (including research, data, educational materials, and software) necessary to effectively address climate change. The campaign already has calls to action for researchers, governments, funders, and environmental organizations.

  • White House Office of Science & Technology Policy: in discussing its motivations to update federal policy to make all publicly funded research in the United States immediately available, the White House has explicitly linked open research to the need to address climate change.

  • Local discussions of “Open for Climate Justice”: in the events section of the Open Access Week website, you can find events hosted by institutions and organizations from across the world around this year’s theme. A selection of these events which are being live webcast is copied below.

These conversations must also continue beyond this week. By early next month, a follow up event building on this year’s theme will be announced in collaboration with the United Nations Library. You can sign up for updates from the Open Climate Campaign and get involved as this project moves forward. You can also use the recordings from this week’s events to help catalyze conversations on your campus and in your community.

Sharing knowledge is a human right, and tackling the climate crisis requires the rapid exchange of knowledge across geographic, economic, and disciplinary boundaries. This week’s activities will contribute to a common foundation for joining together, taking action, and raising awareness around how open enables Climate Justice.


A Selection of Locally Organized and Live Webcast “Open for Climate Justice” Events

Monday, October 24

Tuesday, October 25

Wednesday, October 26

Thursday, October 27

Nick Shockey
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Theme for Open Access Week 2022: Open for Climate Justice