What could justify a prohibition on the luxury emissions of the very rich
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 6445503 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Fausto Corvino (0000-0003-2954-4215, UCLouvain, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2025 |
| Volume | 24 |
| Issue | 4 |
| Pages | 313-333 |
| Publication date | 2025-01-02 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Politics Philosophy & Economics (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1470-594X • E-ISSN: 1741-3060 |
| Publisher | SAGE Publishing (PUBLISHER • US) |
| DOI | 10.1177/1470594x241307048 |
| OpenAlex | W4406042320 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 50 |
In this article, I discuss whether, in addition to pricing emissions, we should prohibit a specific category of luxury emissions, those arising from goods and services that only the richest can afford. In the first part, I ask whether a justification for such a prohibition can be derived from emissions sufficientarianism. I argue that emissions sufficientarianism does not explain why we should prohibit only high-wealth emissions and not also the recursive production of emissions that are neither high-wealth nor subsistence. Moreover, it does not provide a reason why we should prevent the production of high-wealth emissions by those who have offset them ex ante. In the second part, I ask whether a justification for the prohibition of high-wealth emissions can be based on emissions limitarianism. I argue that emissions limitarianism can explain why we should prohibit only high-wealth emissions, but it cannot account for why high-wealth emissions are bad even if they are offset ex ante. In the third part, I use two arguments, positional consumption and moral disengagement, to explain why carbon offsetting cannot be used as a means of circumventing the emissions ceiling. I conclude with a brief overview of the policy implications of this normative discussion
Business · Economics · Environmental ethics · Law and economics · Political economy · Political science · Positive economics · Public economics · Sociology · Climate Change and Geoengineering · Climate Change Policy and Economics · Energy, Environment, and Transportation Policies · Law · Philosophy
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| Citation velocity | historical |
|---|---|
| Highly cited | No |