Can Consumption-Based Emissions Accounting Solve the Problem of Historical Emissions? Some Skeptical Remarks

Abstract

The ethics of emissions accounting deals with the following question: When considering who has emitted how much, should emissions be attributed to producers (production-based emissions accounting, or PBEA) or to consumers (consumption-based emissions accounting, or CBEA)? This normative question is gaining currency in climate change ethics (Duus-Otterström & Hjorthen, 2019; Duus-Otterström, 2022; Mittiga, 2019; Steininger et al., 2014). Olle Torpman has recently contributed to this debate by arguing that CBEA can solve the problem of historical emissions, or the so-called dead polluters objection, and that this constitutes an advantage over PBEA (Torpman, 2022). The dead polluters objection affects any account based on the idea that remedial responsibility for the costs or negative effects of climate change be polluters. This objection states that we cannot attribute remedial responsibility for an namely, García-Portela, Emissions-accounting mechanisms are by this objection because they distribute remedial responsibility for the negative effects and costs of climate change based on agent’s pollution.