WHAT IS HABITABILITY?
Habitability is the lens through which we understand climate mobility. It asks not only who moves, but what it takes for people to live safely and with dignity, whether they stay or move.
THE DEFINITION
Habitability means whether a place can continue to support safe, dignified life and livelihoods: water, food, shelter, income and services, and safety from climate events.
FIVE THINGS TO KNOW
01
Most movement is internal.
Most climate-related movement happens within countries.
02
Many cannot move.
Many of the most affected people cannot move at all.
03
Climate rarely acts alone.
It interacts with livelihoods, housing, services, governance and conflict.
04
Moving can be adaptation.
Moving can itself be a form of adaptation.
05
Acting early costs less.
Resilience investment typically returns two to ten times its cost.
OUR APPROACH
Climate mobility is a predictable policy challenge. We propose that governments meet it through climate resilient governance: one structure, established now, in which the instruments that sustain habitability in place and those that enable safe, dignified and lawful mobility are designed together.
THE PROBLEM
Most governments respond to climate mobility through two separate systems. Adaptation is funded as resilience; mobility, where it is addressed at all, is treated as border management or as a last resort once adaptation has failed.
Movement then happens late, in crisis and through irregular channels, and those who cannot move, those who choose to stay and the communities that receive newcomers are left out of both systems.
OUR PROPOSAL
A climate resilient governance structure, established now rather than in response to crisis, and built on a floor of rights.
A
The cabinet office, national security secretariat or equivalent adopts a working definition of climate mobility and assigns the agenda across departments. It is low in cost, needs no legislation, and shapes what is counted and funded.
B
Within the habitability arc, instruments that sustain habitability in place and instruments for safe, dignified and lawful mobility co-exist. Neither is held in reserve for when the other fails.
C
A common focus on regions of geostrategic relevance; instruments designed to reinforce one another; and shared institutions: one lead, one assessment of priorities, one finance line, one data pipeline and one floor of rights.
THE TWO PILLARS IN PRACTICE
Our core question: what law and policy frameworks are needed to sustain a safe and dignified life and livelihoods in a changing climate? As conditions come under pressure, the mix of policy responses changes, but the objective stays the same: a safe and dignified life, by choice.
Select any part of the arc to explore it.
a changing climate
The habitability arc. Image: Sangeetha Iengar · View or download the diagram
THE OBJECTIVE
As conditions come under pressure, the mix of policy responses changes, but the objective stays the same.
Choice is the measure of success. Responses succeed when people can remain or move safely, on terms they help determine, including those who stay.
PILLAR I
Helping people stay safely where they are, for as long as that remains possible.
Key terms, including climate adaptation →
PILLAR II
Making movement safe, lawful and dignified when it happens.
What legal pathways already exist? →
LINKED
The two pillars are not alternatives, and neither is held in reserve for when the other fails. Where adaptation can no longer secure a safe and dignified life, safe routes to move become a means of safeguarding habitability. The Global Compact for Migration already recognises this.
Instruments for sustaining habitability and for enabling mobility should be designed together, for the same places.
THE FOUNDATION
An official central government definition of climate mobility, providing one lead, one view of priority places, one finance line, one data pipeline, and a floor of rights.
Governments should own and define the agenda now. The centre of government should adopt an official definition and assign responsibilities across departments, before crises arrive.
BEYOND THE MIGRATION FRAME
Public debate tends to frame climate mobility either as a cross-border migration wave to be managed, or as a humanitarian emergency after displacement. Both focus on movement, and on the point where it becomes visible.
That frame shapes funding and attention. It overlooks people who stay, people who cannot leave and the communities that receive newcomers, and it separates climate, migration, development and humanitarian work.
OUR PRINCIPLES
HOW OTHERS CAN HELP
RESOURCES
POSITION STATEMENT · 2026
Habitability: the lens through which climate mobility should be understood
Download PDF
EXPLAINERS · 2026
Climate mobility, explained
Myths and realities, key terms, the basics, responsibility and the law.
Explore the explainers
GLOSSARY
Key terms
18 terms, from climate mobility to trapped populations, and the words to avoid.
Go to key terms