Large inequalities in climate mitigation scenarios are not supported by theories of distributive justice

2024/11/01 by Joel Millward-Hopkins, Yamina Saheb, Jason Hickel · 1 voice · 10 citations
Economics, Econometrics and Finance · Environmental Science · Mathematics · #Climate Change Policy and Economics #Climate Change and Geoengineering #Distributive justice #Distributive property #Economic Justice #Economics #Environmental economics #Inequality #Law #Mathematics #Political science #Pure mathematics #Sociology #Sustainability and Climate Change Governance

paper · doi:10.1016/j.erss.2024.103813

published in Energy Research & Social Science 118, 103813 (Elsevier BV)

openalex publication_date 2024/11/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/22

Abstract

Existing global climate mitigation scenarios perpetuate large inequalities in energy and income between countries and regions for the rest of the century, and modellers have recently begun to assess these dynamics in light of distributive justice theories. However, these theories are intended to describe inequalities within nations and cannot straightforwardly be applied to inequalities between nations or world regions. Indeed, an analysis of key distributive justice theories suggests that, in contexts of international or interregional inequalities, moral justifications for inequality cannot be sustained, while arguments in favour of egalitarianism become stronger.

Citations

• Why Sufficiency Is Not Enough

Cited by

• Exploring patterns of distributional justice in global climate change mitigation scenarios
• Advancing representations of equity and justice in climate mitigation futures
• Unreachable, Inescapable: Sustainable Development as Normative Camouflage in EU–MERCOSUR Trade
• Principles for a post-growth scenario of ambitious mitigation and high human well-being

Discussions

• Very interesting-looking new study on the inequalities implied by climate mitigation scenarios doi.org/10.1016/j.er... [bsky, 17 points, 1 comments]

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