The Project
Project Description
Austria was one of the first countries in the world and within the EU to ratify the Paris Agreement. In doing so, Austria expressed its intention to contribute to the realization of a low-carbon or even carbon-free society. However, actually achieving this is a challenge: the transformation to a low-carbon society requires radical changes (Rockström et al., 2017). Indeed, it is no exaggeration to claim that the transformation to a low-carbon society has the potential to significantly change the societal landscape in Austria. In particular, and as mentioned in the project call, the implementation of this transformation will have significant ethical, economic and legal implications, among others. It is therefore particularly important to analyze these impacts and develop tools to assess how best to manage the transition to a low-carbon society.
This project brings together researchers from the fields of moral and political philosophy, economics and law to contribute to this essential task. These different perspectives are central to the assessment of transformation, as transformation necessarily raises questions in areas that these disciplines are concerned with. For example, given the currently well-observed high correlation between welfare levels and emissions (Holtz-Eakin and Selden, 1995; Tucker, 1995), the transformation to a low- or zero-carbon society may have significant impacts on the distribution of welfare between individuals in Austria. How will these affect different transformation scenarios? In addition, the transformation must be implemented at least in part through policy instruments, including legislation. According to which criteria can we choose between different policy instruments? And even if economically efficient and legally valid transformative policies have been identified, ethical questions need to be answered such as: Are the distributional effects of these policies fair and equitable? Are there significant interests of individuals - e.g. continuing to pursue traditional lifestyles - that limit the choice for the potential transformative policy? Will (some) affected people be compensated for the harm they will suffer as a result of the transformation to a low-carbon society? Any analysis and assessment of possible transformation to a low-carbon society requires addressing such issues. The proposed project therefore brings together the necessary disciplines of philosophy, economics and law for an integrated analysis. To summarize the aim of the project in one sentence: It should contribute to the identification of ethically defensible, legally valid and economically efficient ways to implement the transformation to a low-carbon society.
The project will apply the problem of legitimate expectations (Sidgwick, 1967; Feinberg, 1973; Rawls, 1999; Meyer and Sanklecha, 2011; Meyer and Sanklecha, 2014) as a guiding concept for the research needed to achieve this goal. In our view, the problem of legitimate expectations is an ideal concept for the necessary interdisciplinary analysis of the transformation to a low-carbon society. This is partly because the problem of legitimate expectations captures some key dimensions of the issues raised by radical transformation and partly because it creates a common understanding and language. These are the prerequisites for successful interdisciplinary work, enabling the intellectually meaningful integration of the three disciplines.
References
Brock, G. (2005), Needs and global justice, Royal Institute of Philosophy Supplement 57, 51-72.
Brown, A. (2011), Justifying compensation for frustrated legitimate expectations. Law and Philosophy, 30(6), 699-728.
Brown, A. (2017), A Theory of Legitimate Expectations. Journal of Political Philosophy, doi:
10.1111/jopp.12135.
Buchanan, A. (1975), Distributive Justice and Legitimate Expectations. Philosophical Studies 28(6),
419-425.
Coleman, J. (1992), Risks and Wrongs. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Dworkin, G. (1988), The Theory and Practice of Autonomy. Cambridge University Press.
Feinberg J. (1973), Duty and Obligation in the Non-Ideal World. Journal of Philosophy 70(9): 263-
275.
Holtz-Eakin: D, Selden, T.M. (1995), Stoking the fires? CO 2 emissions and economic growth. Journal of Public Economics 57(1): 85-101.
Meyer, L.H., Sanklecha, P. (2011), Individual Expectations and Climate Justice. Analysis & Critique
33(2): 449-471.
Meyer, L. H., Sanklecha, P. (2014), How legitimate expectations matter in climate justice. Politics,
Philosophy & Economics, 13(4), 369-393.
Nussbaum, M. (2006), Frontiers of Justice: Disability, Nationality, Species Membership. Cambridge
MA: Harvard University Press.
Rawls, J. (1999), A Theory of Justice. Revised edition. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Raz, J. (1986), The Morality of Freedom. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Reader, S. (2005), The Philosophy of Need. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Reader, S. (2007), Needs and Moral Necessity. London: Routledge.
Rockström, J., Gaffney, O., Rogelj, J., Meinshausen, M., Nakicenovic, N. and Schellnhuber, H.J.,
2017. a roadmap for rapid decarbonization. Science, 355(6331), pp.1269-1271.
Schinko, T., Bachner, G., Schleicher, S., Steinigner, K.W. (2017). Modeling for insights not numbers: The long-term low-carbon transformation. Atmósfera 30 (1): 137-161; doi: 10.20937/ATM.2017.30.02.05 .
Sidgwick, H. (1967), The Methods of Ethics. Book III. London: Macmillan.
Tucker, M. (1995), Carbon dioxide emissions and global GDP. Ecological Economics 15(3): 215-223.