An Ethical Response to Climate Change
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.15209/jbsge.v6i2.201Abstract
This paper examines the ethical question of the responsibility of business organisations to respond to climate change. Ethical principles of ‘polluter pays‘, ‘historic culpability’ and ‘equitable distribution of the carbon budget’ are applied to the question of ‘should business respond to climate change’, using rights and utilitarian ethical analyses. An ethical argument is established for business organisations to decarbonise their production and distribution systems rather than delay action. Government policies required to remove barriers which are delaying a widespread and meaningful response by business to humankind’s greatest moral challenge together with the ethical implications are discussed.
Downloads
Published
2011-08-01
How to Cite
Lamberton , G. W. (2011). An Ethical Response to Climate Change. Journal of Law and Governance, 6(2), 13–28. https://doi.org/10.15209/jbsge.v6i2.201
Issue
Section
Articles
License
Authors who publish with this journal agree to the following terms:- Authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgement of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal.
- Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgement of its initial publication in this journal.
- Authors are permitted and encouraged to post their work online (e.g., in institutional repositories or on their website) prior to and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work (See The Effect of Open Access).