ABSTRACT

This chapter considers what kind of contribution an ethical theory called 'contractualism' can make to climate change debates. It also explains kind of moral obligations we would have in that situation according to contractualism. Public debates about climate change are often about empirical facts. People disagree about whether the continued emission of the greenhouse gases will change Earth's climate, and about how the projected change in climate will affect life on Earth. The higher temperatures were already starting to affect the lives of the people who lived on Earth* in the year 2010. Because of the changed climate, these individuals were experiencing more severe weather events: floods, droughts, hurricanes, tornadoes. The contractualist reasons to follow the 'Mitigation Policy' must, therefore, be based on the relationships we can have with the people around us now. Violating the policy reveals that one's moral deliberation has not been shaped by the non-rejectable principles.