Religion and the ethical defense of emissions trading

Several prominent philosophers have argued that CO2 emissions trading may be a morally justified means of fighting global climate change. The present article defends the claim that this position is not merely ethical but, notwithstanding its secular appearance, religion-dependent. The article’s argument is twofold. First, the ethical case for emissions trading cannot rely on pure moral-philosophical argument, as it must, and (implicitly) does, include particular basic views about economic policy. Second, consequently, the ethical case for emissions trading is to be understood as a further secularized continuation of the ‘Roman’ tradition as opposed to the ‘Protestant’ one within Western intellectual thought (cf. Nelson 1991, 2010). The article concludes by suggesting that the ‘Roman-ness’ of the ethical defense of emissions trading indicates its ultimate weakness.