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Climate ethics and population policy

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  • Philip Cafaro

Abstract

According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, human population growth is one of the two primary causes of increased greenhouse gas emissions and accelerating global climate change. Slowing or ending population growth could be a cost effective, environmentally advantageous means to mitigate climate change, providing important benefits to both human and natural communities. Yet population policy has attracted relatively little attention from ethicists, policy analysts, or policy makers dealing with this issue. In part, this is because addressing population matters means wading into a host of contentious ethical issues, including family planning, abortion, and immigration. This article reviews the scientific literature regarding voluntary population control's potential contribution to climate change mitigation. It considers possible reasons for the failure of climate ethicists, analysts, and policy makers to adequately assess that contribution or implement policies that take advantage of it, with particular reference to the resistance to accepting limits to growth. It explores some of the ethical issues at stake, considering arguments for and against noncoercive population control and asking whether coercive population policies are ever morally justified. It also argues that three consensus positions in the climate ethics literature regarding acceptable levels of risk, unacceptable harms, and a putative right to economic development, necessarily imply support for voluntary population control. WIREs Clim Change 2012, 3:45–61. doi: 10.1002/wcc.153 This article is categorized under: Climate, Nature, and Ethics > Climate Change and Global Justice

Suggested Citation

  • Philip Cafaro, 2012. "Climate ethics and population policy," Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews: Climate Change, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 3(1), pages 45-61, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:wly:wirecc:v:3:y:2012:i:1:p:45-61
    DOI: 10.1002/wcc.153
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    Cited by:

    1. Hendrik P. Dalen & Kène Henkens, 2021. "Population and Climate Change: Consensus and Dissensus among Demographers," European Journal of Population, Springer;European Association for Population Studies, vol. 37(3), pages 551-567, July.
    2. Aurélie Méjean & Antonin Pottier & Marc Fleurbaey & Stéphane Zuber, 2020. "Catastrophic climate change, population ethics and intergenerational equity," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 163(2), pages 873-890, November.
    3. Antonin Pottier & Marc Fleurbaey & Stéphane Zuber, 2020. "Climate change and population: an integrated assessment of mortality due to health impacts," Documents de travail du Centre d'Economie de la Sorbonne 20029, Université Panthéon-Sorbonne (Paris 1), Centre d'Economie de la Sorbonne.
    4. Pottier, Antonin & Fleurbaey, Marc & Méjean, Aurélie & Zuber, Stéphane, 2021. "Climate change and population: An assessment of mortality due to health impacts," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 183(C).
    5. Antonin Pottier & Marc Fleurbaey & Aurélie Méjean & Stéphane Zuber, 2021. "Climate change and population: an assessment of mortality due to health impacts," PSE-Ecole d'économie de Paris (Postprint) halshs-03048602, HAL.
    6. Sharma, Rajesh & Sinha, Avik & Kautish, Pradeep, 2020. "Examining the impacts of economic and demographic aspects on the ecological footprint in South and Southeast Asian countries," MPRA Paper 104245, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 2020.
    7. Ann Bostrom & Adam L. Hayes & Katherine M. Crosman, 2019. "Efficacy, Action, and Support for Reducing Climate Change Risks," Risk Analysis, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 39(4), pages 805-828, April.

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