Latest Articles
Below is a collection of articles on climate justice.
Reducing One’s Carbon Footprint
Rising global temperatures threaten an array of alarming consequences, from the eradication of animal and plant species due to habitat loss, through to millions of human deaths due to increasingly frequent natural disasters and the spread of disease (among other things). The ideal solution would alm...
The Relevance of Choice in a Just Transition
In 2015, nearly all countries agreed to limit the global average temperature rise to no more than 2°C compared to preindustrial levels. Attaining this goal will come at a cost to carbon-intensive industries—and this will have flow-on effects for others. To take one example, the closure of the Haz...
A ‘Fair Share’ Approach to Individual Carbon Emissions
A lot has been said about the moral obligations of states, sub-state actors (such as local governments), and industries to curb their carbon emissions. It might seem that this would entail a similar obligation for us, as individuals, to address our own personal emissions. But how might we ar...
The Morality of Exports
With the exception of air and sea travel, most GHG emissions are produced by people within the territories of states, so when it comes to assigning responsibility for the climate harms to which emissions contribute, the task ought to be fairly simple: states should take responsibility for emissions ...
Historical Emissions
The world is running out of time to reduce its levels of GHG emissions. Each year the world emits around 35 Gt of CO2. Avoiding the worst effects of climate change and keeping temperature rises to 2C means we are unable to continue emitting at such a rate; we have a limited time before exhausting...
Ethics and the Carbon Budget
If dangerous climate change is to be avoided, there is only a limited amount of GHG emissions that the world can emit. According to the IPCC, if we are to limit the rise in global temperatures to less than 2°C above pre-industrial levels, or the more ambitious 1.5°C goal, total global anthropogeni...
The Psychological Appeal of Fossil Fuel Divestment
Divestment from the fossil-fuel industry is on the rise. Worldwide it is estimated that approximately $3.4 trillion has been divested by 584 different institutions. These institutions have divested from companies involved in exploration, extraction, and production of fossil fuels. Is dives...
What Should I Do About Climate Change?
We need climate action now. The IPCC is unequivocal, and citizens are listening even if their governments aren’t. Extinction Rebellion has stopped traffic; Australian schoolchildren have cut school to demand change; Swedish teenager Greta Thunberg just used a UN COP 24 plenary to berate negotiator...
Who Should Do What?
Climate change is something we have a moral duty to address: in failing to do so, we expose vulnerable people in the future to the prospect of great harm. But who are “we”? Who has this duty, and what exactly is the climate action we ought to take? A natural picture is this. What is needed to...
Why is Social Justice Relevant to Climate Change
A climate transition will require huge adjustments to our way of life. New technologies, new behaviours and extensive costs for individuals and states. But it also offers opportunities such as a cleaner environment, cheaper energy and increased independence. Yet no matter what combination of these c...
