Sufficientarianism, thresholds, and climate loss and damage
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Date
2026-02-23
Authors
Mintz-Woo, Kian
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
EIPE, Erasmus University Rotterdam
Published Version
Abstract
With respect to climate Loss and Damage, Laura García-Portela adopts both a sufficientarian account of distributional justice and a Polluter Pays Principle whereby historical emissions are the basis for transfers. This paper makes three main claims. First, it argues that the way that García-Portela adopts a Polluter Pays Principle means that her sufficientarianism would be largely otiose for polluters. Second, it argues that her account of harm leaves questions unanswered about how to classify and respond to climate impacts above her threshold. Finally, it argues that, insofar as the basis for transfers are harms defined as falling below a threshold, an alternative account, the “Polluter Pays, Then Receives Principle” has a better practical and theoretical fit.
Description
Keywords
Climate ethics , Climate justice , Historical emissions , Harm , Loss and damage , Polluter Pays Principle , Sufficientarianism , [SocietyPoliticsEthics]
Citation
Mintz-Woo, K 2026, 'Sufficientarianism, thresholds, and climate loss and damage', Erasmus Journal for Philosophy and Economics, vol. 18, no. 2, pp. 109-125. https://doi.org/10.23941/ejpe.v18i2.1017