Mac Willners

Those who have asked who should compensate for harm due to solar geoengineering have been preoccupied with a version of the Polluter Pays Principle according to which compensatory obligations befall deployers of the technology. But there is an alternative (but not mutually exclusive) interpretation. According to it, non-deploying greenhouse gas emitters are liable to compensate for harm due to solar geoengineering since they have contributed to the circumstances rendering it an understandable response to the threat of climate change. Such an Emitter Pays Principle is normatively attractive, especially in cases where deployment is a venial act of self-defense.