The Ethical Risks of a Climate World Bank

Recently, some have been arguing (i) that future generations should shoulder the burden of climate action, and (ii) that economists should be charged with building institutions to facilitate this, particularly (iii) through the creation of a “world climate bank”, along the lines of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund. Such a strategy is said (iv) to have major pragmatic advantages over proposals that appeal to morality, since it appeals primarily to the idea of making a Pareto improvement that allows “efficiency without sacrifice” particularly for the current generation.

In his paper, Stephen Gardiner criticizes all four claims of the proposal on both ethical and pragmatic grounds. Among other things, he argues that the climate world bank creates profound risks of intergenerational extortion.  

This event is co-presented with Nature, Time, Responsibility and the Next Generation Cities Institute.

Join the discussion by attending in person (note, there is a maximum of 25 audience members permitted in the space) or online by registering for the Zoom webinar. 

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Stephen Gardiner is Professor of Philosophy and Ben Rabinowitz Endowed Professor of Human Dimensions of the Environment at the University of Washington, where he is also Director of the Program on Ethics. He is the author of A Perfect Moral Storm (Oxford, 2011), co-author or editor of five more book titles, and has published more than fifty articles and book chapters. His research focusses on global environmental problems, future generations and virtue ethics.