Part 1 - Energy and Climate

Energy use and climate change are inextricably intertwined.

Modern energy systems make contemporary life possible. Energy heats and cools buildings, moves people and goods, powers communication systems, supports agriculture, enables manufacturing, and sustains hospitals, schools, homes, and public infrastructure. Zero energy consumption is not optional. It is built into nearly every part of life.

At the same time, the dominant global energy system still relies heavily on fossil fuels. When coal, oil, and natural gas are burned, they release carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases. These gases accumulate in the atmosphere, trap heat, and contribute to global warming. This means that energy systems are not only technical systems. They are also climate systems, economic systems, political systems, and ethical systems.

In 2025, global energy-related carbon dioxide emissions reached nearly 38.4 billion metric tons, or about 38.4 gigatons of CO₂. That is approximately 84.7 trillion pounds of carbon dioxide released in a single year from energy-related activity alone.

Fun fact: A number that large is difficult to imagine. One way to visualize it is by comparing it to the approximate displacement weight of the RMS Titanic. By that comparison, one year of energy-related CO₂ emissions is roughly equivalent to the weight of more than 700,000 Titanics. 

Why Cumulative Emissions Matter

Climate change is not caused only by this year’s emissions. It is caused by the accumulation of greenhouse gases over time.

Carbon dioxide remains in the atmosphere long enough that past emissions continue to matter (up to 200 years). This creates an ethical problem across time. Earlier generations received many of the benefits of fossil-fuel energy use, while present and future generations inherit many of the risks. Those risks include sea-level rise, heat waves, drought, flooding, changing agricultural conditions, biodiversity loss, infrastructure damage, public health effects, and increased stress on food, water, and energy systems.

This is why climate change raises questions of intergenerational justice. Present decisions can create benefits now while imposing risks and costs on people who did not participate in those decisions and may have limited ability to protect themselves from the consequences.

Energy Systems Are Not Ethically Neutral

Energy systems distribute benefits and burdens.

Some communities benefit from energy access, jobs, infrastructure, mobility, economic development, and reliable electricity. Other communities may bear disproportionate burdens from extraction, pollution, land disturbance, climate impacts, high energy costs, or unreliable service. The same energy system produces prosperity for some and risk for others.

This means that climate change needs to be seen as a problem of social, political, and economic organization. We need to ask who uses energy, who profits from energy systems, who makes energy decisions, who bears environmental harms, and who is most vulnerable to climate impacts.

These questions are especially important because emissions and vulnerability are not distributed evenly. Some countries, industries, and populations have contributed more to historical greenhouse gas emissions. Some communities have fewer resources to adapt to climate impacts. Some people are more exposed because of geography, poverty, occupation, health status, age, infrastructure, or political exclusion.

Renewable Energy and the Climate Problem

Renewable energy is important because it can reduce dependence on fossil fuels and lower greenhouse gas emissions. Solar, wind, geothermal, hydropower, sustainable bioenergy, energy storage, electrification, efficiency, and transmission infrastructure may all contribute to lower-carbon energy systems.

However, renewable energy should not be treated as automatically ethical simply because it is renewable. Renewable energy systems still require land, minerals, labor, infrastructure, financing, regulation, and public acceptance. They can create conflicts over siting, ownership, environmental impacts, labor conditions, local benefits, energy prices, and community participation.

The ethical task is therefore twofold:

1. Understand why climate change creates strong reasons to reduce fossil-fuel emissions.
2. Evaluate renewable energy pathways carefully so that the transition does not reproduce or create new forms of injustice.

This distinction will matter throughout the rest of the course.

Reading Task

For this part of the lesson, read the assigned climate and energy materials listed in Canvas. These readings provide background on the relationship between energy use, greenhouse gas emissions, climate change, and renewable energy pathways.

As you read, do not try to prioritize every figure or scenario. Instead, focus on the structure of the argument.

Ask:

• How is energy consumption linked to greenhouse gas emissions?
• Why do cumulative emissions matter?
• Why does the timing of emissions reduction matter?
• What role can renewable energy play in reducing climate risk?
• Why might delaying energy-system transformation increase future risks and costs?
• What ethical issues arise when benefits and burdens are distributed unevenly?
• Who is most responsible for reducing emissions?
• Who is most vulnerable to climate impacts?
• Who or what orgs have power over energy-system decisions?

Pay Attention To

As you work through the readings, pay particular attention to the following issues:

1. Scale

Annual energy-related emissions are enormous. Small percentage changes can represent very large changes in actual tons of carbon dioxide. When reading emissions data, ask whether the source is discussing total emissions, annual emissions, cumulative emissions, per capita emissions, or emissions intensity.

2. Time

Climate change is shaped by cumulative emissions. Delayed action can make later action more difficult, more expensive, and more disruptive. Ethical analysis must therefore consider not only what should be done, but when it should be done.

3. Responsibility

Different actors have contributed differently to the problem and have different capacities to respond. Ethical analysis must consider the various positions of governments, firms and orgs, researchers, consumers, communities, and future generations.

4. Vulnerability

Climate harms are not distributed evenly. Some communities are more exposed to climate risks or have fewer resources for adaptation. These differences matter ethically.

5. Transition

Reducing emissions requires energy-system transformation. But transitions have consequences. Workers, communities, landowners, energy users, utilities, investors, and ecosystems may all be affected.

Potential Ethical Questions for Consideration

Use these questions to guide your notes and discussion:

1. Does climate change create an ethical obligation to reduce fossil-fuel emissions?
2. What is the difference between annual emissions and cumulative emissions?
3. What is per capita emissions output, and why does it matter ethically?
4. Should responsibility for emissions reduction be based on current emissions, historical emissions, per capita emissions, wealth, capacity, or some combination of these?
5. Who benefits from fossil-fuel energy systems, and who bears the risks?
6. What obligations do present generations have to future generations?
7. What are the ethical risks of delaying energy-system transformation?
8. What are the ethical risks of pursuing renewable energy transitions too narrowly or too quickly without attention to justice?
9. How should societies balance energy access, affordability, reliability, and emissions reduction?
10. What would count as an ethically defensible energy decision?

Preparing for Part 2

Part 1 establishes the climate basis for renewable energy. Part 2 will ask what obligations follow from that basis.

The key transition is this:

Climate change gives societies strong ethical reasons and political claims to reduce fossil-fuel dependence. But the need to reduce emissions does not automatically tell us which renewable energy pathways are best, who should pay for them, how quickly they should be implemented, or how their benefits and burdens should be distributed.

These questions require ethical analysis.