Phil Ryan: Is climate justice a matter of taste?
By Phil Ryan
7th June 2022
Transforming Society, Policy Press
While there is near-universal agreement concerning the essential facts of the climate emergency, many believe that the question of climate justice is a matter of merely personal opinion. But the intricate interweaving of fact and value beliefs suggests otherwise.
鈥淔airness is always in the eye of the beholder鈥, a delegate at the 2021 Glasgow Summit. He was discussing one of the most vexing questions in international climate negotiations: how to distribute the burdens of climate action. In 1992, 154 countries ratified the , with its key principle of 鈥榗ommon but differentiated responsibilities鈥. But to arrive at a durable agreement, translating that principle into binding emissions targets has proven impossible.
The quote expresses a belief that is extremely influential in our world: that norms are mere personal preferences. Debating ethical matters, in this view, is as fruitless as debating one鈥檚 taste in oysters, as .