Rethinking Responsibility for Mitigating Climate Change Harm: Advocating Remedial Responsibility

Global climate change poses an urgent crisis that requires immediate action. However, conceptualizing human responsibility for mitigating the harm caused by climate change has proved challenging. I assess traditional concepts of moral responsibility and political responsibility for structural injustice and demonstrate that both have notable shortcomings. Building upon the limitations of these concepts, I establish five criteria that a responsibility concept must fulfill to be both effective and fair in mitigating the harm of climate change. Guided by these criteria, I propose remedial responsibility as a more appropriate concept that better meets these requirements.