Climate Change Ethics: Justice, Policy, and Cap-and-Trade

Introduction: Core Ethical Issues in Climate Change

The fundamental ethical issue with respect to climate change is the need for governments to consider the condition of human life, the well-being of people, and other species on a global level — both now and in the future. Ultimately, the question is how prepared we are to account for our responsibilities regarding the welfare of individuals in other countries and future generations in the decision-making process. Other ethical issues surrounding climate change are organized around four themes: mitigation, adaptation, technology, and finance.

Mitigation, Adaptation, Technology, and Finance

Mitigation involves the methods used to reduce greenhouse gas emissions — particularly carbon dioxide — to a level that prevents drastic and dangerous climatic change. It raises ethical issues because emissions levels correspond directly to the amount of economic activity that can occur using mainstream forms of energy production and land use. As a result, the ability of developing countries to generate financial wealth and provide for the basic needs of their populations will be constrained by the size of the emission entitlements they are allocated.

Adaptation concerns how people and communities are able to cope with the negative effects of climatic changes that are already inevitable. The need for adaptation will vary with the success or failure of a global agreement on greenhouse gas emissions aimed at preventing further dangerous climate change. Adaptation is closely linked to mitigation: failure to mitigate will place the greatest burden on those least capable of responding and most exposed to the harmful effects of rapid climate change. Unfortunately, these communities are typically poor, impoverished, developing nations that lack the resources to undertake the actions adaptation demands. The central ethical issue in adaptation is distributive justice — the reality that the poorest nations contribute the least to climate change yet will suffer the most harm.

Technology involves the development and deployment of alternative, environmentally beneficial green technologies. Finance addresses who will pay, and how much, to support what both mitigation and adaptation require in addressing and resolving climatic change.

Four Categories of Ethical Issues

The fundamental ethical values at stake include the well-being of individuals and communities, solidarity within and between communities, virtues as the character traits that enable rational agents to promote such well-being and solidarity, and the excellence expressed in moral ideals. Against this backdrop, four categories of ethical issues arise in relation to climate change.

Distributive justice arises when certain groups or people carry an unfair burden by enduring the negative effects of climate change, especially when they contributed little or nothing to causing it. The ethical difficulty lies in determining what constitutes an unjust allocation of negative consequences and an unfair distribution of the benefits that flow from the activities causing climatic change.

Compensatory justice asks whether people who suffer the repercussions of climatic change — without having caused it — can claim compensation from those who did. Ethically, those who provoke harm to others are held responsible and should compensate for that harm. However, the rules become ambiguous in the context of global climate change, because the harm results from a wide range of actors: states, individuals, businesses, and institutions. Moreover, climate change was largely caused by previous generations, making it difficult to assign responsibility to any current group. Overall, identifying who caused the harm and who should bear responsibility remains deeply challenging.

Procedural justice concerns who should participate in the decision-making process about whether to mitigate or adapt to climate change. This ethical issue requires attention to the behavioral patterns that produced climate change, and demands that vulnerable groups — such as the sick and the poor — be able to participate meaningfully in decisions about how to respond.

Human rights issues arise from the infringement of fundamental rights when a threat such as climate change is present. The inquiry must also consider the extent to which global climate change has implications for basic rights. The ethical argument here is that the interests of individuals and the public — rather than rights claims alone — should be given priority in climate change ethics.