Kian Mintz‐woo
Biographic Data
| ID | 1490148 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Kian Mintz‐woo |
| GIVEN NAMES | Kian |
| FAMILY NAME | Mintz‐woo |
| SIGNATURE | WOO K M |
| AFFILIATIONS | International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-9216-9561 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 18 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 11 |
| WORKS AS AUTHOR | 18 |
| WORKS AS EDITOR | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2018 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 2 |
Speed and Justice in a Renewable Energy Transition
A just transition from fossil fuels to renewable energy has been associated with a variety of duties, including climate change mitigation and promoting procedural, distributive, and recognitional justice. Several authors have discussed transitional justice tensions between the need for rapid greenhouse gas emissions reductions and other aspects of a just transition, such as fair inclusion of stakeholders. We make the case that such trade-offs are…
Unilateral Action on Climate Change and the Moral Obligation to Take Leadership
We claim that a moral obligation to take climate leadership by means of unilateral mitigation depends on the existence of a plausible follow‐the‐leader mechanism whereby unilateral mitigation by some increases the probability of sufficient mitigation by others to avert catastrophic climate impacts. By understanding these mechanisms, we can better articulate the obligation for climate leadership across various sectors, from government to individua…
Climate justice discussions need new participants and new audiences
Explicit Methodologies for Normative Evaluation in Public Policy, as Applied to Carbon Budgets
What could philosophical or justice perspectives contribute to climate (and other applied philosophy) policy discussions? This question is important for philosophers on government policy committees. This article identifies two novel concerns about such contexts (which I call ‘contingent selection’ and ‘committee deference’) and systematizes some potential methodologies before arguing for a previously unrecognized methodology that focuses on disci…
Racialised Stereotypes of Scrap Iron Collection as Failures of Ecological Citizenship
Despite scrap metal collection being a valuable ecological practice, one which exposes collectors to health hazards and poor workingconditions, it is frequently devalued and rarely portrayed as a positive environmental contribution. Our article examines views regarding scrap metal collection expressed in response to Charlie Hebdo’s caricature of the (non-Romani) Romanian tennis player Simona Halep as a scrap iron collector. We argue that the reac…
Justice considerations in climate research
A Dynamic Collapse Concept for Climate Change
Despite growing interest in risks of societal collapse due to anthropogenic climate change, there exists no consensus about how collapse should be understood. In this article, we critically examine existing definitions and argue that none adequately address the challenges for conceptualizing collapse that climate change presents. We therefore propose an alternative conception, which regards collapse as a reduction of collective capacity resulting…
A directional dilemma in climate innovation
One branch of the responsible innovation literature involves the direction of innovation: if the public or decision-makers can or should direct innovation, how should innovation be directed? This paper explicates a case study where directionality -the plurality of plausible values for innovation -is directly implicated. In this case, a key technology may require a strategy for innovation, but there are contrasting normative reasons to drive that …
A forward-looking approach to climate change and the risk of societal collapse
This article proposes a forward-looking approach to studying societal collapse risks related to climate change. Such an approach should indicate how to study emerging collapse risks and suggest strategies for adapting to them. Our approach is based on three postulates that facilitate a forward-looking approach: (1) collapse, if it occurred, would be a lengthy process rather than an abrupt event; (2) significant collapse risks already exist in som…
The Promises and Pitfalls of Taxing Carbon
Carbon tax ethics
Ideal carbon tax policy is internationally coordinated, fully internalizes externalities, redistributes revenues to those harmed, and is politically acceptable, generating predictable market signals. Since nonideal circumstances rarely allow all these conditions to be met, moral issues arise. This paper surveys some of the work in moral philosophy responding to several of these issues. First, it discusses the moral drivers for estimates of the so…
Collapse, social tipping dynamics, and framing climate change
In this article, we claim that recent developments in climate science and renewable energy should prompt a reframing of debates surrounding climate change mitigation. Taken together, we argue that these developments suggest (1) global climate collapse in this century is a non-negligible risk, (2) mitigation offers substantial benefits to current generations, and (3) mitigation by some can generate social tipping dynamics that could ultimately mak…
Teaching & learning guide for
This guide accompanies the following article: Mintz-Woo, K., Carbon Pricing Ethics. Philosophy Compass 17/1 (2022) pp. 1-13 [10.1111/phc3.12803], https://doi.org/10.1111/phc3.12803
Carbon pricing ethics
The three main types of policies for addressing climate change are command and control regulation, carbon taxes (or price instruments), and cap and trade (or quantity instruments). The first question in the ethics of carbon pricing is whether the latter two (price and quantity instruments) are preferable to command and control regulation. The second question is, if so, how should we evaluate the relative merits of price and quantity instruments. …
Why and Where to Fund Carbon Capture and Storage
This paper puts forward two claims about funding carbon capture and storage. The first claim is that there are moral justifications supporting strategic investment into CO 2 storage from global and regional perspectives. One argument draws on the empirical evidence which suggests carbon capture and storage would play a significant role in a portfolio of global solutions to climate change; the other draws on Rawls’ notion of legitimate expectation…
What do climate change winners owe, and to whom
Climate ethics have been concerned with polluter pays, beneficiary pays and ability to pay principles, all of which consider climate change as a single negative externality. This paper considers it as a constellation of externalities, positive and negative, with different associated demands of justice. This is important because explicitly considering positive externalities has not to our knowledge been done in the climate ethics literature. Speci…
Science for Loss and Damage. Findings and Propositions
The debate on “Loss and Damage” (L&D) has gained traction over the last few years. Supported by growing scientific evidence of anthropogenic climate change amplifying frequency, intensity and duration of climate-related hazards as well as observed increases in climate-related impacts and risks in many regions, the “Warsaw International Mechanism for Loss and Damage” was established in 2013 and further supported through the Paris Agreement in 2015…
The Social Cost of Carbon
We analyze the role of ethical values in the determination of the social cost of carbon, arguing that the familiar debate about discounting is too narrow. Other ethical issues are equally important to computing the social cost of carbon, and we highlight inequality, risk, and population ethics. Although the usual approach, in the economics of costbenefit analysis for climate policy, is confined to a utilitarian axiology, the methodology of the so…
Carbon pricing ethics
The three main types of policies for addressing climate change are command and control regulation, carbon taxes (or price instruments), and cap and trade (or quantity instruments). The first question in the ethics of carbon pricing is whether the latter two (price and quantity instruments) are preferable to command and control regulation. The second question is, if so, how should we evaluate the relative merits of price and quantity instruments. …
A forward-looking approach to climate change and the risk of societal collapse
This article proposes a forward-looking approach to studying societal collapse risks related to climate change. Such an approach should indicate how to study emerging collapse risks and suggest strategies for adapting to them. Our approach is based on three postulates that facilitate a forward-looking approach: (1) collapse, if it occurred, would be a lengthy process rather than an abrupt event; (2) significant collapse risks already exist in som…
Carbon tax ethics
Ideal carbon tax policy is internationally coordinated, fully internalizes externalities, redistributes revenues to those harmed, and is politically acceptable, generating predictable market signals. Since nonideal circumstances rarely allow all these conditions to be met, moral issues arise. This paper surveys some of the work in moral philosophy responding to several of these issues. First, it discusses the moral drivers for estimates of the so…
Collapse, social tipping dynamics, and framing climate change
In this article, we claim that recent developments in climate science and renewable energy should prompt a reframing of debates surrounding climate change mitigation. Taken together, we argue that these developments suggest (1) global climate collapse in this century is a non-negligible risk, (2) mitigation offers substantial benefits to current generations, and (3) mitigation by some can generate social tipping dynamics that could ultimately mak…
The Social Cost of Carbon
We analyze the role of ethical values in the determination of the social cost of carbon, arguing that the familiar debate about discounting is too narrow. Other ethical issues are equally important to computing the social cost of carbon, and we highlight inequality, risk, and population ethics. Although the usual approach, in the economics of costbenefit analysis for climate policy, is confined to a utilitarian axiology, the methodology of the so…
Science for Loss and Damage. Findings and Propositions
The debate on “Loss and Damage” (L&D) has gained traction over the last few years. Supported by growing scientific evidence of anthropogenic climate change amplifying frequency, intensity and duration of climate-related hazards as well as observed increases in climate-related impacts and risks in many regions, the “Warsaw International Mechanism for Loss and Damage” was established in 2013 and further supported through the Paris Agreement in 2015…
Why and Where to Fund Carbon Capture and Storage
This paper puts forward two claims about funding carbon capture and storage. The first claim is that there are moral justifications supporting strategic investment into CO 2 storage from global and regional perspectives. One argument draws on the empirical evidence which suggests carbon capture and storage would play a significant role in a portfolio of global solutions to climate change; the other draws on Rawls’ notion of legitimate expectation…
What do climate change winners owe, and to whom
Climate ethics have been concerned with polluter pays, beneficiary pays and ability to pay principles, all of which consider climate change as a single negative externality. This paper considers it as a constellation of externalities, positive and negative, with different associated demands of justice. This is important because explicitly considering positive externalities has not to our knowledge been done in the climate ethics literature. Speci…
Teaching & learning guide for
This guide accompanies the following article: Mintz-Woo, K., Carbon Pricing Ethics. Philosophy Compass 17/1 (2022) pp. 1-13 [10.1111/phc3.12803], https://doi.org/10.1111/phc3.12803
Carbon pricing ethics
The three main types of policies for addressing climate change are command and control regulation, carbon taxes (or price instruments), and cap and trade (or quantity instruments). The first question in the ethics of carbon pricing is whether the latter two (price and quantity instruments) are preferable to command and control regulation. The second question is, if so, how should we evaluate the relative merits of price and quantity instruments. …
Carbon tax ethics
Ideal carbon tax policy is internationally coordinated, fully internalizes externalities, redistributes revenues to those harmed, and is politically acceptable, generating predictable market signals. Since nonideal circumstances rarely allow all these conditions to be met, moral issues arise. This paper surveys some of the work in moral philosophy responding to several of these issues. First, it discusses the moral drivers for estimates of the so…
Collapse, social tipping dynamics, and framing climate change
In this article, we claim that recent developments in climate science and renewable energy should prompt a reframing of debates surrounding climate change mitigation. Taken together, we argue that these developments suggest (1) global climate collapse in this century is a non-negligible risk, (2) mitigation offers substantial benefits to current generations, and (3) mitigation by some can generate social tipping dynamics that could ultimately mak…
Justice considerations in climate research
A Dynamic Collapse Concept for Climate Change
Despite growing interest in risks of societal collapse due to anthropogenic climate change, there exists no consensus about how collapse should be understood. In this article, we critically examine existing definitions and argue that none adequately address the challenges for conceptualizing collapse that climate change presents. We therefore propose an alternative conception, which regards collapse as a reduction of collective capacity resulting…
A directional dilemma in climate innovation
One branch of the responsible innovation literature involves the direction of innovation: if the public or decision-makers can or should direct innovation, how should innovation be directed? This paper explicates a case study where directionality -the plurality of plausible values for innovation -is directly implicated. In this case, a key technology may require a strategy for innovation, but there are contrasting normative reasons to drive that …
A forward-looking approach to climate change and the risk of societal collapse
This article proposes a forward-looking approach to studying societal collapse risks related to climate change. Such an approach should indicate how to study emerging collapse risks and suggest strategies for adapting to them. Our approach is based on three postulates that facilitate a forward-looking approach: (1) collapse, if it occurred, would be a lengthy process rather than an abrupt event; (2) significant collapse risks already exist in som…
The Promises and Pitfalls of Taxing Carbon
Climate justice discussions need new participants and new audiences
Explicit Methodologies for Normative Evaluation in Public Policy, as Applied to Carbon Budgets
What could philosophical or justice perspectives contribute to climate (and other applied philosophy) policy discussions? This question is important for philosophers on government policy committees. This article identifies two novel concerns about such contexts (which I call ‘contingent selection’ and ‘committee deference’) and systematizes some potential methodologies before arguing for a previously unrecognized methodology that focuses on disci…
Racialised Stereotypes of Scrap Iron Collection as Failures of Ecological Citizenship
Despite scrap metal collection being a valuable ecological practice, one which exposes collectors to health hazards and poor workingconditions, it is frequently devalued and rarely portrayed as a positive environmental contribution. Our article examines views regarding scrap metal collection expressed in response to Charlie Hebdo’s caricature of the (non-Romani) Romanian tennis player Simona Halep as a scrap iron collector. We argue that the reac…
Speed and Justice in a Renewable Energy Transition
A just transition from fossil fuels to renewable energy has been associated with a variety of duties, including climate change mitigation and promoting procedural, distributive, and recognitional justice. Several authors have discussed transitional justice tensions between the need for rapid greenhouse gas emissions reductions and other aspects of a just transition, such as fair inclusion of stakeholders. We make the case that such trade-offs are…
Unilateral Action on Climate Change and the Moral Obligation to Take Leadership
We claim that a moral obligation to take climate leadership by means of unilateral mitigation depends on the existence of a plausible follow‐the‐leader mechanism whereby unilateral mitigation by some increases the probability of sufficient mitigation by others to avert catastrophic climate impacts. By understanding these mechanisms, we can better articulate the obligation for climate leadership across various sectors, from government to individua…
Political science (11 works) · Climate Change and Geoengineering (10 works) · Climate Change Policy and Economics (10 works) · Economics (10 works) · Law (9 works) · Climate change (8 works) · Computer Science (7 works) · Ecology (6 works) · Economic Justice (6 works) · Business (5 works)