The Ethics Of Climate Change

Climate change is one of the most serious challenges faced by humanity in the21st century. It is not only the topic of the public and the media, but also a research focus in the academic community. The issue of the climate change has experienced the debates in science, economics and politics to ethics. Western developed countries on the ethical climate change have their own environment and opinions. Exploring ethical issues of climate change based on the developing countries especially China, not only can expand the research field of ethics, but also can interpret the Chinese own opinion on climate change with theoretical support and ethical perspectiveGlobal warming is the main characteristic of global climate change, which has become the objective fact. It is the environment problem, but the key issue is about development. The conflicts of interests among different countries/regions are the main reason of not effectively solved problem of climate change. The conflicts of interest look like focus on the responsibility for climate change, and also on relative funds and technical alleviation issues. But the fundamental problem is that the developed countries are lack of a historic on climate change, and are without understanding of the severity of the climate change and human ecological interdependence. Climate change, meanwhile, challenges the common interests of the world. The whole world lives in a human society based on the ecological interdependence, and common global interest determines the necessity of the international cooperation on climate which focus is the fairness and efficiency.Although the existing reliable evidence shows that climate change is the result of human activities, but so far, it is difficult to achieve a consensus on how to control it through policy, as the most hard challenge is how to identify the responsibility of climate change. The principle of’Share common but differentiated responsibilities’is the basic principle, which embodies the principles of justice and historical responsibility, and also confirms that sustainable development is the common responsibility of mankind, meanwhile, it takes into consideration of the possibility and ability in developed countries and developing countries, respectively.The survival of mankind is equal to that of the nature, and humans not only have the right to enjoy the nature, but also have the obligation to maintain it. On the topic of the responsibility of climate change, developing countries have rights to develop which must be fully and effectively safeguarded, because of the’polluter pays’principle and maintenance of its own interests, and developed countries have an obligation to provide funds, information, infrastructure, and social security, etc. to developing countries. Implementation of contemporary development cannot ignore the survival and development of future generations. Unbalance between rights and obligations in human activities have caused the crisis in climate change.’Sustainable development’is a positive attempt to coordinate rights and obligations. The social development should follow the principles of fairness, sustainability, and harmony.’Sustainable development’from a practical point of view pays more attention to the coordination between human and nature, to the equality among people, and specially among generations, and for the implementation of the principle of equality, it has a tendency to pay more attention to the future generation than to the current one.The key issue of human development is about climate change. Equality in the countermeasures to climate change has been far beyond the boundaries of developed countries and developing countries. In order to achieve the balance in the sense of equality of regional interests and global interests, common responsibility and differentiated responsibilities, rights and obligations, equality and sustainable development should be equally important in the development process of human society. Unequal development is definitely not the sustainable development of human being. The development of human society not only includes the equality among generations but also includes the equality among people living in the same period. If we just obsessed with the equality among different generations, and ignore the intra-generational fairness, it will be a serious violation of the universal principle of justice. Equality problem of climate change among people living in the same period is not solved, then people in the current age could not consciously to focus on intergenerational justice problem of climate change, and it will be more difficult to solve the problem of intergenerational climate justice in practice. Climate justice is the ultimate appeals to solve the problem of climate change, and climate justice is the sustainable development based on equality. In order to put the climate justice into practice, the relative international agreements are necessary. To achieve the climate justice, every nation in the world must have an absolute sense of responsibility to the global climate crisis with determination and perseverance.