Dan Steel, Associate Professor, School of Public Policy and Global Affairs, UBCÂ – https://spph.ubc.ca/faculty/daniel-steel/
Paul Bartha, Professor, Department of Philosophy, UBC – https://philosophy.ubc.ca/profile/paul-bartha/
Thursday, September 21, 2023
5:00 to 6:30 PM
Buchanan Tower 1112
Abstract
We use an interpretation of the precautionary principle (PP) based on lexical utilities to explore how differences in climatic and economic vulnerability influence targets for climate change mitigation. We use novel precautionary arguments to derive two main results: all countries should favor some degree of mitigation, and each has a minimum level of mitigation that varies depending on its susceptibility to climate impacts and economic risks of mitigation. Our proposal improves on previous applications of PP to climate change, and advances climate ethics more generally by drawing attention to moral complexities arising from the intersection of climatic and economic vulnerabilities.
