Justice climatique

Theories of climate justice emerged in the early 1990s with the first attempts at international coordination in the fight against global warming. They focus in particular on the reasons for limiting the extent of climate change and limiting or remedying its harmful effects, as well as the principles that should guide the equitable sharing of the rights and efforts associated with it. While these theories initially focused on the question of the fair sharing of emission rights and the costs of mitigating climate change between states, they are increasingly realising the limits of an approach that focuses solely on the international level, and are now also questioning the responsibilities of other agents such as individuals and businesses. In this entry, we begin by showing the specificity and necessity of addressing climate change through the prism of distributive justice, in contrast to certain economic approaches that see it only as a failure to maximise aggregate well-being or to allocate resources optimally. We then analyse the principles developed by philosophers to distribute climate responsibilities fairly between states, for example on the basis of their contributions to greenhouse gas emissions or their respective capacities. Finally, we highlight the structural and motivational difficulties that have to be overcome.