Global Climate Justice: Proposals, Arguments and Justification

2017 | Natural World

In this thoughtful and original book, social scientist Olivier Godard considers the ways by which arguments of justice cling to international efforts to address global climate change. Proposals made by governments, experts and NGOs as well as concepts and arguments born of moral and political philosophy are introduced and critically examined. Godard contributes to this important debate by showing why global climate justice is still controversial, despite it being a key issue of our times. Godard first points out the huge differences of foundations between conflicting proposals, for instance between a cosmopolitanist viewpoint and an international one. He then explores why many climate justice proposals are objected to, and specifically goes onto provide a rigorous criticism of ideas based on the concept of historical responsibility prior to 1990. Finally, he demonstrates how issues of justice are reconfigured by the choice of an instrumental regime of coordination, such as a world carbon market. Inspired by the French school of justification, this book shines an insightful light on debates about climate justice remaining inconclusive within standard moral and political theory.

Including elements from systems theory, economics and law, this book will be of interest to scholars and students in moral and political philosophy, experts working for parties in climate negotiations or for concerned stakeholders as well as research fellows and students in economics, ethics or the social sciences.

Olivier Godard (Author)