New report cites ethics and justice as critical in world's approach to climate change

Ethics, human rights, and distributive and procedural justice must be an integral component of international negotiations seeking any comprehensive solution to climate change, according to a new report released here today at the United Nations Climate Change Conference. The report asserts that many nations are taking positions that are ethically problematic.

The "White Paper on the Ethical Dimensions of Climate Change" draws strong ethical conclusions about positions taken by some governments in climate change negotiations on several issues. For instance, the paper concludes that those nations that use scientific uncertainty, cost to their national economy alone, lack of action by other nations, or waiting for new, less costly technologies to be invented as justifications for not reducing their emissions to a level that represents its fair share of safe total global emissions, are acting unethically.