What do climate change winners owe, and to whom?

Climate ethics have been concerned with polluter pays, beneficiary pays and ability to pay principles, all of which consider climate change as a single negative externality. This paper considers it as a constellation of externalities, positive and negative, with different associated demands of justi...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Economics and philosophy 2021-11, Vol.37 (3), p.462-483
Main Authors: Mintz-Woo, Kian, Leroux, Justin
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Ability to pay
Beneficiaries
Climate change
Climate justice
Compensation
Economics
Emissions
Ethics
Externality
Greenhouse effect
Winners
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Summary:Climate ethics have been concerned with polluter pays, beneficiary pays and ability to pay principles, all of which consider climate change as a single negative externality. This paper considers it as a constellation of externalities, positive and negative, with different associated demands of justice. This is important because explicitly considering positive externalities has not to our knowledge been done in the climate ethics literature. Specifically, it is argued that those who enjoy passive gains from climate change owe gains not to the net losers, but to the emitters, just as the emitters owe compensation to the net losers for the negative externality. This is defended by appeal to theoretical virtues and to the social benefits of generating positive externalities, even when those positive externalities are coupled with far greater negative externalities. We call this the Polluter Pays, Then Receives (‘PPTR', or ‘Peter') Principle.
ISSN:0266-2671
1474-0028
DOI:10.1017/S0266267120000449