Climate Justice and Historical Emissions

This book provides a systematic introduction to the debate on historical emissions and climate change, for students, researchers and policymakers.

Lukas H. Meyer (Edited by), Pranay Sanklecha (Edited by)

9781107069534, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 16 February 2017

271 pages, 4 b/w illus.
26.2 x 18.5 x 2.2 cm, 0.7 kg

This volume investigates who can be considered responsible for historical emissions and their consequences, and how and why this should matter for the design of a just global climate policy. The authors discuss the underlying philosophical issues of responsibility for historical emissions, the unjust enrichment of the earlier developed nations, and questions of transitional justice. By bringing together a plurality of perspectives, both in terms of the theoretical understanding of the issues and the political perspectives on the problem, the book also presents the remaining disagreements and controversies in the debate. Providing a systematic introduction to the debate on historical emissions and climate change, this book provides an unbiased and authoritative guide for advanced students, researchers and policymakers in climate change justice and governance, and more widely, for anyone interested in the broader issues of global justice.

List of contributors
Introduction. On the significance of historical emissions for climate ethics Lukas Meyer and Pranay Sanklecha
1. Climate ethics, affirmative action and unjust enrichment David Heyd
2. Historical responsibility and climate change Janna Thompson
3. Historical emissions: does ignorance matter? Daniel Butt
4. How legal systems deal with issues of responsibility for past harmful behavior Daniel A. Farber
5. Asking beneficiaries to pay for past pollution Anja Karnein
6. Benefiting from unjust acts and benefiting from injustice: historical emissions and the beneficiary pays principle Brian Berkey
7. A luck-based moral defense of grandfathering Rudolf Schuessler
8. In defense of emissions egalitarianism Konrad Ott and Christian Baatz
9. In the name of political possibility: a new proposal for thinking about the role and relevance of historical greenhouse gas emissions Sarah Kenehan
10. Right to development and historical emissions: a perspective from the particularly vulnerable countries (PVCs) Mizan R. Khan
Index.

Subject Areas: Social impact of environmental issues [RNT], Pollution & threats to the environment [RNP], The environment [RN], Meteorology & climatology [RBP], Earth sciences, geography, environment, planning [R], Environment law [LNKJ], International environmental law [LBBP], Environmental economics [KCN], International relations [JPS], Social & political philosophy [HPS]