Climate Justice: Tough Decisions in Times of Crisis

Abstract

This panel will consist of the first cohort of Leverhulme scholars partaking in the Climate Justice programme at Reading University. Climate change is one of the most urgent issues facing humanity. What is more, it is a challenge that implicates a range of different academic disciplines. While the more technical aspects of the problem are mostly addressed by the natural scientists, social scientists and humanities scholars must contribute on a range of important issues. The following features are unique to climate change: the dispersion between cause and effect, the fact that those who cause it are the least vulnerable to the effects, the effects will be distributed unevenly throughout space and time. Moreover the cause of climate change comes from of our carbon intense life styles. The idea that the our seemingly innocent actions are causing such morally abhorrent outcomes is one which our normative theories and intuitions are poorly equipped to cope with. These papers cover some of the salient questions that have been raised in the previous paragraph. We shall explore the ‘whos’ and ‘hows’ of decision making in climate politics through this series of papers. In answering the who-question we will have two papers. They will address whether it is the heavy polluters of the past, individuals, corporations or someone else altogether that should bear the costs. These papers will also cover different accounts of how these costs should be distributed. As to the how-question: two papers will explore how certain acts are or are not morally permissible. This exploration shall happen by looking at two different areas of policy-making. Firstly we look at traditional environmental policy-making at a national and international level. Secondly we look at the case of using a technology fix (geoengineering) to engage with climate change. By covering these two questions, the who and the how, we will have presented a normative analysis of the tough decisions which we face in the time of climate crisis.

Title	Details
Should Economic Corporations Contribute to the Costs of Climate Change?	View Paper Details
The Ought of Precaution	View Paper Details
Procedural Fairness and Justice in the Case of Geoengineering: Can We Manipulate the Climate in a Moral Way?	View Paper Details
Distributing the Benefits and Burdens of Historical Emissions	View Paper Details