The concept of 'climate refugee': Towards a possible definition?

According to recent statistics published by the Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre (IDMC), in 2024 alone there were 65.8 million new displacements globally; 45.8 million of these people were forcibly displaced by floods, windstorms, earthquakes or droughts – the highest annual figure ever recorded by the IDMC. This is nearly double the annual average of the past decade, and ongoing climate change is set to give rise to increasing numbers of 'climate refugees'. Overall, climate change-related weather events accounted for 99.5 % of all disaster displacements in 2024. As stated in the World Bank's Groundswell report, 216 million people could be forced to move internally by 2050 across six world regions.Despite steps in the right direction, national and international responses to this challenge remain limited, and protection for those affected inadequate. There is no clear definition of a 'climate refugee', nor are climate refugees covered by the 1951 Refugee Convention and its 1967 Protocol. The latter only covers people with a well-founded fear of being persecuted because of their race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion, and who are unable or unwilling to seek protection from their home countries. This means that climate cannot currently be cited as a reason for seeking asylum or refugee status, although the second objective in the 2018 Global Compact for Migration cites climate as a potential reason for migration. While the EU has not formally recognised climate refugees, it has expressed growing concern and has taken action to support and develop resilience in countries most vulnerable to climate-related stress.This briefing is an update of an earlier version published in October 2023 by Joanna Apap with Sami James Harju.