Abstract

My portions of the book argued that theories of ethics that had been put forward with respect to climate change policy suffered from internal logical problems and would lead us outside of feasible solutions, which inevitably will include enlightened self-interest in pursuit of solving the free-rider problem and achieving true global emissions reductions. Gardiner agrees with me that existing theories fail. Rather than trying to meet the minimal requirements for an ethical theory, he suggests a lower bar for climate ethics, arguing that in principle ethics is relevant even if right now it is not up to the task of providing guidance. It is hard to disagree because it is possible that someone might come up with a sound, feasible theory. But until we see one, we are agreed that existing theories of ethics fail.