Rawlsian Ethics of Climate Change

This paper develops principles for responding to climate change from the perspective of John Rawls’ writings on justice. Rawls ( 1971 ) argues that principles of justice, in particular those for assigning basic rights and duties of social cooperation, should be selected from an “original position” as though by (imaginary) agents who do not know their position in society. This paper adapts Rawls’ notion of original position and applies it to the international context required to address climate change. From this perspective it is argued the agents would endorse the current consensus not to allow global warming to exceed 2 °C. They would also find that rich industrial countries, having contributed disproportionately to the causes of climate change, should reduce their emissions faster than developing countries and they should help developing countries to adopt non-carbon energy sources, to adapt to climate change, and to recover from its harms. The paper proposes new institutions needed to carry out these obligations efficiently and effectively.