This working paper from the World Resources Institute draws on existing research to explore the role of equity and justice in informing climate negotiations and the design of new climate agreements. The paper is a contribution to the work of the Climate Justice Dialogue, an initiative led by the Mary Robinson Foundation, which is developing creative thinking and mobilising demand for a people-centered climate agreement in 2015. The purpose of the paper is to establish why climate change is an issue of injustice; to analyse the role of justice and equity in designing an agreement that will satisfy a 2°C limit to global warming; and to explore the potential of climate justice narratives in mobilising public demand for action. The paper begins by establishing the unjust nature of climate change, linking the challenges to socio-ecological and economic systems that undermine human rights, particular those of the poor, marginalised, and vulnerable. At a larger scale, climate change also disproportionately burdens developing countries. The second section concerns how the UNFCCC has dealt with issues of common but differentiated responsibilities and respective capabilities, and intra- and inter-generational aspects of equity. The authors argue that these principles will ultimately determine the fairness and effectiveness of the climate regime over the coming decades, and that the Durban platform presents a crucial opportunity to integrate these principles into future practice. Up to now, the debate has largely failed to create the necessary cooperation to achieve a maximum 2°C global warming target, representing an injustice of failed stewardship that will undermine ecosystems, and the communities that depend on them. The final section of the working paper is devoted to the potential of climate justice to act as a powerful narrative that could inspire the mobilisation of domestic constituencies to demand equitable climate agreements. Such a narrative is needed to reach those not traditionally associated with environmental issues (trade unions, local government, vulnerable communities etc); a necessary component in creating effective pressure and political will. The authors note the recent emergence of global political discourse in areas other than climate change that have ‘justice’ as a key mobilising message, suggesting that lessons can be learned from these to create a climate justice movement that can elevate climate change up the political agenda.