Climate change and climate policies do not affect everyone equally. The costs and benefits of climate mitigation and adaptation are unevenly distributed across societies, regions and generations, often reinforcing existing inequalities. SEVEN approaches fairness not as a secondary concern, but as a core condition for effective and legitimate climate solutions. 

At the same time, the meaning of fairness — and related concepts such as climate justice — often remains vague or contested in policy and practice. This ambiguity can lead to climate solutions that unintentionally perpetuate injustice, overlook vulnerable groups, or shift burdens to those least responsible or least able to respond. SEVEN addresses this challenge by treating fairness itself as a systemic problem that requires conceptual clarification and empirical analysis. 

Within this theme, SEVEN develops research that clarifies what fairness means in concrete climate contexts and how it can be operationalised. This includes building conceptual frameworks to identify the social, economic, legal and institutional factors that hinder or facilitate fair outcomes. These frameworks are developed and tested through empirical research on concrete cases, such as citizen initiatives, legal proceedings, policy design processes and international negotiations.

SEVEN then applies these insights to the assessment and design of specific climate solutions, in close collaboration with societal partners. A key feature of this work is its cross-thematic integration: research on fairness is explicitly connected to other SEVEN themes — including climate and health, the protein transition and the future of energy — to examine how fairness challenges arise across systems and how they can be addressed through systemic solutions. 

Across this theme, SEVEN combines interdisciplinary research with engagement with policymakers, civil-society organisations, communities and other actors. By linking conceptual clarity to practical application, SEVEN contributes to climate solutions that are not only environmentally effective, but also socially just, inclusive and resilient over time.

The projects below illustrate how SEVEN works to clarify, assess and address fairness in concrete climate solutions, across different sectors, scales and governance contexts.