Green taxes, quotas and equality: Preserving social justice whilst averting climate change

Authors

  • Paula Casal Pompeu Fabra University (Spain).

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.7203/metode.6.4318

Keywords:

climate change, carbon quotas and taxes, regressive taxes, inequality, green fiscal reform

Abstract

The need for green fiscal reform is urgent in the face of climate change. Some oppose it, however, arguing that such reforms disproportionately burden poorer individuals whose emissions are far smaller than those of wealthier individuals. Defusing these criticisms, this paper argues that this is not an inevitable feature of green fiscal reform. We should adopt a more scientific attitude not only towards climate change but towards testing fiscal proposals to mitigate it, and avoid dividing, with rushed assumptions, responsible voters who care about both equality and climate change.

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Author Biography

Paula Casal, Pompeu Fabra University (Spain).

ICREA Professor of Moral and Political Philosophy at the Pompeu Fabra University in Barcelona (Spain). She is an associate editor of Politics, Philosophy and Economics , editor of Law, Ethics and Philosophy and president of Academics Stand Against Poverty and of the Great Ape Project-Spain.

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Published

2016-04-15

How to Cite

Casal, P. (2016). Green taxes, quotas and equality: Preserving social justice whilst averting climate change. Metode Science Studies Journal, (6), 73–79. https://doi.org/10.7203/metode.6.4318
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Issue

Science grid: The public understanding of science (2016)

Section

Living with climate change. The challenge of a new cultural change

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