Current Projects

Adaptation Work: A Climate-Forced Labour Regime (2025-)

Despite the immense effort invested in adapting to climate change, most adaptation labour is not yet recognised as work. Existing frameworks like the just transition and the International Labour Organization’s Green Jobs programme primarily focus on formal sector employment. Yet, most adaptation work is informal, unpaid, and performed at the community level. Consequently, most adaptation workers may not be recognised in the just transition and the Green Jobs programme. Those most vulnerable to climate change must perform adaptation work to avoid high-risk impacts, but lack essential labour protections.

Partnering with The Global Centre on Adaptation, this project aims to formally recognise adaptation work and advocate for its inclusion within national and international labour law and policy frameworks.

Adaptation and Indigenous Labour (2021-)

This research examines climate change adaptation labour in the sugarcane industry of the South Pacific. The research uses historical, ethnographic, and collaborative qualitative methods to answer the following questions: How do environmental impacts dictate the conditions of adaptation labour?; How do these conditions compare to the conditions of historical slave labour in the South Pacific sugar industry?; How do minority world economies benefit from South Pacific adaptation labour?

This project received funding from The Leverhulme Trust. You can view the project page here.