Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
The new
energy
morality
Doing the right thing
Moral questions don't usually come up in topics about energy. But
energy use is largely responsible for man-made emissions contribut-
ing to climate change. And climate change can't be tackled without
addressing some moral questions about energy.
They are moral questions because they involve notions of obligation - in
shouldering energy and emissions costs now to prevent future generations
paying a far bigger bill - and of fairness - in the just distribution of these
energy and emissions costs between rich and poor in today's unequal
world.
Cost-cutting across the globe
Our debt to future generations
Curbing our use of fossil fuels and developing alternative renewable
energies to prevent climate change spiralling out of control squares with
the ethical basis of sustainable development. This is that we should pay
due regard to the welfare of future generations. In the classic definition
offered by the Brundlandt Commission in its 1987 report to the United
Nations, sustainable development “meets the needs of the present without
compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs”.
