About the project

Climate change is characterized by an unequal distribution of benefits and costs over time. While most of the benefits of emissions-generating activities accrue to people living today, most of the damage caused by these activities will only occur in the (distant) future. There are therefore good reasons to view climate change as a question of intergenerational justice. The most pressing question of intergenerational climate justice concerns the relationship between the present generation and future generations. Do we owe it to future generations to take additional measures to combat climate change and its harmful consequences? And if so, to what extent and in what way?

Scientists have looked at this question from the perspective of various principles of intergenerational justice. However, there is one plausible principle that has been largely neglected so far. According to this principle, the present generation should enable future generations to meet their basic needs - for example, their need for water, food and health. The aim of our project is to contribute to the assessment of states' climate-related intergenerational equity obligations from the perspective of this particular principle. First, we develop a clear, plausible and practicable version of the principle (defining the concept of basic needs, determining the actual basic needs and basic needs satisfiers of present and future generations, and examining the societal devaluation of future basic needs and the moral implications of scarcity). And secondly, we investigate what scientific models and studies would be necessary for this principle to provide concrete and realistic ethical guidelines with regard to climate change (this includes identifying climate protection measures that can be implemented in the near future and investigating how this can be done). Best model the impact of business as usual and these measures on the ability of future generations to meet their basic needs and investigate how to assess the empirical assumptions of discounting and scarcity arguments.

1. How do you define basic needs?

2. What are the actual basic needs of present and future recipients of justice and what are the satisfiers of these needs?

3. Under what circumstances and to what extent is it appropriate to disregard the basic needs of future people?

4. How should the demands of present and future generations for the satisfaction of their basic needs be balanced under conditions of scarcity?

5. Which climate protection measures are feasible?

6. Which scientific models can be used to estimate how the basic needs of future recipients will be affected by normal operation?

7. Which climate-economic models can be used to estimate how possible climate protection measures will affect the basic needs of future recipients?

8. Which models and studies would be required to assess to what extent, if at all, the climate-related obligations of the present generation towards future generations could be weakened by discounting or scarcity?

The project developed a plausible concept of basic needs that links the satisfaction of basic needs with the achievement of a threshold for autonomy/autonomy capability. Meyer has provided the theoretical basis (FF 1) for such an approach in earlier work (see e.g. Meyer (1997), Meyer (2003), Meyer (2021)), Meyer (2022) Meyer and Pölzler (2022) and Pölzler (2021) (see also Meyer and Pinzani (2022)). Petz (2023a) furthermore discussed in detail the distinction between basic needs and capabilities, thus clarifying the conceptual delineation of basic needs; and Pölzler and Hannikainen (2022) as well as Pölzler, Tomabechi and Hannikainen (in revision) and Pölzler et al. (in preparation) examined how ordinary people in their role as spokespersons in different countries use the concept of basic needs and what they think people's actual needs are.

Petz (i.e.-a) developed a list of ten basic needs, building on the above conceptualization, and provided criteria on how basic needs thresholds could be defined for such a conceptualization (FF 2). In Petz (2023a), he also presented five threshold criteria that would have to fulfill principles of the needs-based sufficiency conception in order to offer a reasonable conception of intergenerational justice (FF 2, 4). Meyer and Pölzler (2022) also discussed how best to interpret and defend a basic needs currency of justice and a sufficiency pattern of justice in an intergenerational context; and Pölzler (in revision) addressed how we might use empirical data on public opinion to justify claims about needs-based justice.

Petz (2023b) linked the concept of basic needs developed in the project to the concept of resilience. He provides definitions of how we should understand needs-based resilience for both current and future generations. He argues that a serious consideration of intergenerational resilience would broaden the concept of resilience and lead to difficult trade-offs in terms of mitigation and adaptation (FF 4, 5).

Williges et al. (submitted) focused on the concrete application of the conceptualization of basic needs developed in the project and shows links to climate-economic modelling (FF 6,7). The work focuses on the aspect of basic needs provision that is most likely to be addressed by such modeling - and which is most relevant to climate change - energy use. Using geographically explicit estimates of energy demand to meet basic needs such as housing, food, healthcare and transportation, the paper shows that current modeling approaches that focus on energy are able to account for basic needs. Conversely, it also shows the extent to which the basic needs of current and future generations are at risk due to the increasingly limited carbon budgets required to meet climate targets (FF 7, 8). The study shows that with feasible climate action leading to deep decarbonization, the risk of failing to meet basic needs is greatest at the beginning of the century, as opposed to later when carbon-free energy systems may be better established. As for the shortage of allowable emissions due to stringent targets, research finds that the absolute value of emissions is not a problem, but their distribution to ensure enough for all to meet basic needs is.