Climate Justice and Collective Action

281 Pages·2021·3.977 MB·English

by  Angela Kallhof

“Linearthinking,instrumentalreason, and traditional moralityfailuswhen
itcomes toproblems like climate change. This iseasytosay,but theorizing
thewayforwardisextremelydifficult.ClimateJusticeandCollectiveActionis
a major contribution to this challenge. Eminently steeped in the literature,
Kallhoff develops an account that holds together the holistic nature of the
problems we face with new models of cooperation, all constrained by con-
siderations of justice. This is a “must read” for anyone interested in the
politics and ethics of the Anthropocene.”
– Dale Jamieson, NYU Law School and College of Arts and Sciences, USA
“Kallhoff’stimelybookoffersarigorousoverviewofweaknessesincurrent
collective action programs aimed at addressing climate change, proposing,
as an alternative, a joint, goal-oriented approach that builds positively on
thecooperativespiritoflocal,asmuchasglobalcommunities.Amustread
for those passionate about these issues.”
– Tracey Skillington, University College Cork, Ireland
“Rich, lucid and insightful. Kallhoff provides an illuminating account of
why climate change is a such a serious challenge to humanity, and of the
way ahead. An important resource for thinking about climate change and
collective action. Indeed, just the kind of serious but engaged scholarship
we urgently need.”
– Stephen Gardiner, University of Washington, Seattle, USA

Climate Justice and Collective Action
This book develops a theory of climate cooperation designed for concerted
action, which emphasises the role and function of collectives in achieving
shared climate goals.
In debates on climate change action, research focuses on three major
goals: on mitigation, on adaptation, and on transformation. Even though
these goals are accepted, concerted action is still difficult to realize. Climate
Justice and Collective Action provides an analysis of why this is the case and
develops a theory of climate cooperation designed to overcome the existing
roadblocks. Angela Kallhoff starts with a thorough analysis of failures of
collective action in the context of climate change action. Taking inspiration
from theories of water cooperation, she then establishes a theory of joint
action that reframes climate goals as shared goals and highlights the impor-
tance of adhering to principles of fairness. This also includes an exploration
of the normative claims working in the background of climate cooperation.
Finally, Kallhoff puts forward proposals for a fair allocation of duties to
cooperate with respect to climate goals.
This book will be of great interest to students and scholars of climate
action, climate justice, environmental sociology and environmental philoso-
phy, and ethics more broadly.
Angela Kallhoff is Professor of Ethics with Special Emphasis of Applied
Ethics at the University of Vienna, Austria. She works on ethics, climate
ethics and political philosophy. Her books include Why Democracy Needs
Public Goods (2011), and, as an editor, Plant Ethics: Concepts and Applications
(2018) and Nanotechnology: Regulation and Public Discourse (2019).
Routledge Studies in Climate Justice
Climate justice is a rapidly growing field of critical enquiry which con-
centrates on the social dimensions of climate change, including the unequal
nature of its physical, socio-economic and political impacts and humanity’s
responses to them. From the stark warnings of the Intergovernmental Panel
on Climate Change (IPCC) to the direct action protests of Extinction Rebel-
lion, there is growing interest in the study of the global inequalities of cli-
mate change.
RoutledgeStudiesinClimateJusticewillcomprisemonographsandedited
collections addressing cutting-edge questions in the growing field of climate
justice. The series will include a diverse a range of topics, including climate
justice and international development, intersectionality and climate inequal-
ity, climate governance and policy, gender and climate change, climate
migration and displacement, health and well-being, climate justice activism,
pedagogy and participation, and urban climate justice.
Series Editor: Tahseen Jafry is Professor of Climate Justice and Director of
The Centre for Climate Justice, Glasgow Caledonian University, UK.
If you are interested in submitting a proposal, please contact Annabelle
Harris, Editor for Environment and Sustainability: Annabelle.Harris@tandf.
co.uk
Titles in this series include:
Climate Justice and Collective Action
Angela Kallhoff
For more information about this series, please visit: https://www.routledge.
com/Routledge-Studies-in-Climate-Justice/book-series/RSCJ
Climate Justice and
Collective Action
ff
Angela Kallho
Firstpublished2021
byRoutledge
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BritishLibraryCataloguing-in-PublicationData
AcataloguerecordforthisbookisavailablefromtheBritishLibrary
LibraryofCongressCataloging-in-PublicationData
Names:Kallhoff,Angela,author.
Title:Climatejusticeandcollectiveaction/AngelaKallhoff.
Description:Abingdon,Oxon;NewYork,NY:Routledge,2021.|
Series:Routledgestudiesinclimatejustice|Includesbibliographical
referencesandindex.
Identifiers:LCCN2020051710(print)|LCCN2020051711(ebook)|
ISBN9780367753863(hardback)|ISBN9781003162322(ebook)
Subjects:LCSH:Environmentaljustice.|Climaticchanges--Prevention--
Citizenparticipation.
Classification:LCCGE220.K352021(print)|LCCGE220(ebook)|
DDC363.7/0526--dc23
LCrecordavailableathttps://lccn.loc.gov/2020051710
LCebookrecordavailableathttps://lccn.loc.gov/2020051711
ISBN:978-0-367-75386-3(hbk)
ISBN:978-1-003-16232-2(ebk)
TypesetinGoudy
byTaylor&FrancisBooks
Contents
Preface viii
Introduction 1
1 Theoretical frame 16
2 The tragedy of the commons 33
3 Collective action problems 53
4 Joint environmental action 76
5 The ethos in joint environmental action 101
6 Climate goals 134
7 Climate duties 154
8 Climate duties as joint action duties 180
9 A fair share in accumulative goals 203
10 Some conclusions: Institutions and responsibilities 227
Bibliography 249
Index 262
Preface
The international debate on climate change once focused on the effects of
emissions of greenhouse gases on our planet and on the dire prospects for
future developments. More recently, climate change has been approached
from a different angle. Authors inthe humanities, in law, in political studies,
and in philosophy explore institutional responses to climate change. The
shared goal of this endeavour is theories of institutional design in order to
contribute to a sharp and significant reduction of greenhouse gas emissions.
This bookis atthe centre ofthatmore recentdebate. Simultaneously, it aims
at breaking new ground. The book combines insights in theories of climate
justicewiththeoreticalapproachestocooperation.Thisdoubleapproachrests
on two insights: in order to resolve the climate dilemma, humanity needs to
cooperate – ideally on a global scale. But cooperation has no chance without
alsoallocatingthe burdensofclimate actionaccording toprinciplesofjustice.
Taken together, this book presents a theory of fair climate cooperation.
Hopefully, it will spur local, national, and global climate cooperation.
The work on this book has also been inspired by former insights in
theories of public goods and the ethics of nature. The atmosphere shares
characteristics of a typical public good. Without regimes of appropriation
that undermine over-use of the atmosphere as a deposit of greenhouse gas
emissions, a solution to the climate dilemma is not a realistic expectation.
Yet, the interpretation of climate change as a drama of the commons never
fully convinced me. Instead, examples from the cooperative appropriation
of water resources provide a better example for the capacities of actors to
engage in sharing and using natural resources together. Nevertheless, over-
exploitationisafact.Icameclosertoasolutiontoover-consumptionwhen
learning from theories of joint action in social philosophy. They provide
not only a new model of cooperation; they also explore cooperation on a
time axis whose end point is a shared goal. The most important twist in
climate change action is a re-interpretation of climate goals as cooperative
goals. Overall, the optimism in this book stems from recent insights in
shared agency as applied to climate action goals.
Even though focusing on ethics and theories of action, this book is aimed
atabroadaudience.Themodelsusedinthisbookarenothighlytheoretical.
Preface ix
Instead, theories of shared agency, as well as the ethics of nature, aim at
reconnecting our lives with an appropriate use of shared natural goods.
For realizing this project, many people have been of particular importance.
One always receives more support and help than one can acknowledge in
developing a book. I am particularly grateful for stimulating debates with
authors in climate ethics who shaped my ideas from the very beginning,
among them Tracey Skillington, Dale Jamieson, Steve Gardiner, Henry Shue,
and Simon Caney. Climate ethicists also joined a lecture series on climate
justice at the University of Vienna and contributed to an edited volume on
climate justice in a University of Vienna book series. I wish to thank all of
themforbeingsograciousindiscussingmyproposalsonclimatecooperation
onvariousoccasions.IalsowishtothankthefacultyoftheClimateCentreof
the Earth Institute at Columbia University who supported this book with a
research scholarship in 2015. Furthermore, my thanks go to the students at
the University of Vienna who worked hard on climate justice and on my
proposalsforclimateethicsintheclassroom.Thisbook,aswellasstimulating
conferences on the ethics of nature, was supported by a grant from the Aus-
trianScienceFoundation(FWF)on“NewDirectionsinPlantEthics.”Finally,
I also wish to thank the people who revised the English text and who
improved the manuscript in many ways: Linnea Kralik, Lisa Oberhofer, and
Paul. I also wish to thank Routledge for a wonderful collaboration.
Angela Kallhoff
Vienna