Workshop Climate Ethics in Heidelberg, 17-18/11/2025

We are pleased to announce that we will hold a workshop on Climate Ethics on November 17 and 18, 2025 at the University of Heidelberg (Germany), organized by Prof. Susanne Mantel and Dr. Rutger Lazou, and seek to fill additional slots by this call for abstracts.

Given that some of the dangerous effects of climate change are already occurring today, the ethical questions that arise from this are becoming increasingly urgent. In this workshop, we aim to bring together scholars working on the moral dimensions of climate change and their implications for our actions and policies. The following people have already confirmed: Laura García-Portela (Erasmus University Rotterdam), Lukas Meyer (University Graz), Ivo Wallimann-Helmer (University Fribourg), and Anna Wienhues (KU Leuven). We would like to fill further slots by this call for abstracts, at least half of them with early career researchers.

Relevant topics include, but are not limited to: What is a fair mitigation target? Is it justified to use geoengineering as a tool for mitigation? How should the remaining permissible carbon budget be distributed? What are the responsibilities of individuals, corporations, and states in responding to climate change? How does the non-compliance of others affect our duties? What is a fair distribution of adaptation costs? What duties exist to compensate for climate-related losses and damages? What is owed to the losers of the energy transition?

Abstracts of about 300 words for presentations of about 30′ should be sent to rutger.lazou@uni-heidelberg.de, latest on September 10, 2025, and will be blindly reviewed. Please include your name and institutional affiliation in the email and attach the document with the abstract without your personal data. Accepted talks will be informed before September 15, 2025. Unfortunately, we do not have funding to cover full travel and hotel costs but may be able to provide at least partial refunds for early career researchers.

Non-presenting attendees are also more than welcome. Please register before November 3, 2025 by email to rutger.lazou@uni-heidelberg.de. There is no registration fee.