Chapters authored
The Ethical Desirability of Geoengineering: Challenges to Justice
Geoengineering or climate engineering is defined as a deliberate and intentional intervention into the earth system to combat dangerous climate change. Solar Radiation Management (SRM) and Carbon Dioxide Removal (CDR) are two dominant approaches in geoengineering. From an ethical point of view, both these approaches pose serious challenges to justice from the intergenerational, distributive and procedural point of view. Intergenerational equity and the risk-transfer to future generations suggest major challenges to justice in geoengineering. Abdicating our responsibility is a form of injustice to future generations. Unequal distribution of cost and benefits and benefits and harms is a major challenge to distributive justice in SRM. Paying compensation to those harmed by SRM is presented as a way out of ethical deliberations. But there are serious challenges with regard to compensation for SRM, such as, who ought to pay the compensation, who are the beneficiaries and how much to pay. Participation across vulnerable sections alongside indigenous people and their central involvement remains a concern of procedural justice. Food justice is at stake as the adverse impact of SRM on agriculture and food production is considered to be a major challenge.
Part of the book: Bioethics in Medicine and Society