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Selling pollution and safeguarding lives: international justice, emissions trading and the Kyoto Protocol

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  • Graham Dawson

    (Department of Economics, Faculty of Social Sciences, The Open University)

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to examine the Kyoto Protocol in the light of three theoretical perspectives: international political economy (IPE), Nozick's entitlement theory of justice and Rawls's defence of justice as fairness. The IPE perspective highlights the difficulty of curtailing the structural power of capital, in the form of the fossil fuel lobby, to protect its interests by undermining the previously agreed objective of protecting the most vulnerable populations from dangerous climate change. The entitlement theory of justice has been used to provide support for the market-related initiatives, notably emissions trading, that introduced flexibility into the emissions reduction programme. However the extension of emissions trading to the international arena is questioned in this paper. The application of Rawls's difference principle focuses attention on the interests of those populations that are most vulnerable to the effects of climate change, who are argued here to be more numerous than is generally supposed. It is suggested that a publicly funded climate change insurance scheme is necessary and some of the difficulties it would face are discussed.

Suggested Citation

  • Graham Dawson, 2000. "Selling pollution and safeguarding lives: international justice, emissions trading and the Kyoto Protocol," Open Discussion Papers in Economics 20, The Open University, Faculty of Social Sciences, Department of Economics.
    • Handle: RePEc:opn:wpaper:20
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