I have been notified that my paper submitted to NEEN26, the NEEN & ISEE Conference on Environmental Ethics which is to be held at Umeå University, Sweden, October 14-16th, titled "The ethical case against Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS)", has been rejected by the organisers.
This is the second or third time I have had a paper on this theme rejected. For some reason, the ethics of CCS seems to be anathema.
See also:
I have just composed and submitted the abstract below to NEEN26, the NEEN & ISEE Conference on Environmental Ethics which is to be held at Umeå University, Sweden, October 14-16th. The conference is organised by Nordic Environmental Ethics Network (NEEN) in collaboration with International Society for Environmental Ethics (European section) .
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The ethical case against Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS)
CCS has become increasingly central as a proposed mitigation measure. The Net Zero goal presupposes Carbon Dioxide Removal (CDR), which may involve the use of so-called negative emission technologies (NETs), which in turn in some cases involve Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS). The Net Zero goal has arguably been misappropriated by fossil fuel interests to promote an agenda that seeks to avoid rapidly phasing out fossil fuels. It is commonly claimed that CCS is a necessity. But CCS as practiced to date has actually been found to be net CO2 additive. While emission reductions from CCS are often uncertain, research confirms that CCS mitigation measures have resulted in mitigation deterrence and climate delay. Regrettably, CCS has not triggered much debate in climate ethics, where anthropocentric perspectives – somewhat surprisingly – predominate. In ethical discussions about CCS, interspecies justice is particularly relevant in two ways: Firstly, in so far as CCS policies contribute to allowing continued greenhouse gas emissions and an overshoot in emissions, this will contribute to exacerbate the impact of climate change, including for non-humans. Secondly, in so far as non-humans are harmfully affected by the transportation of CO2 and long-term dedicated geological storage of CO2 in subsurface environments, this is a direct consequence of CCS policies. Lastly, while future generations is a common concern in environmental ethics, this perspective have not received much attention in the context of CCS. With its required time horizon of at least 10,000 years for underground CO2 storages, CCS is a perfect example of intergenerational externalization of costs in a climate change context. This arguably makes CCS unacceptable from the perspective of intergenerational justice and fairness. In this context, the lack of consensus among researchers on what CO2 leakage rates are acceptable is especially concerning.
I have been notified by the organisers of the 2026 digital conference of the International Association for Environmental Philosophy (IAEP) that my paper "The ethical case against Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS)" has been rejected.
Minor edits I have made previously have now been approved in six encyclopedia articles in Store Norske Leksikon (SNL), namely "antroposentrisk", "dypøkologi", "dyreetikk", "miljøfilosofi", "rettssubjekt" and "økosofi".
Today I have had an article writing day, with some 800 words added to Store Norske Leksikon, primarily the new encyclopedia article "miljøetikk" (environmental ethics), but also links to that article from a number of related articles. This brings the number of writing days so far this Spring up to 14,5, including 10,5 article writing days.
I have been appointed as co-supervisor of Federico Comollo, who is a PhD Candidate in Italy´s national PhD Programme in Sustainable Development and Climate Change, at IUSS Pavia / Luiss Guido Carli (Italy). His research project is entitled “The Ethics and Politics of Plant Conservation in the Anthropocene”, and his main supervisor is Gianfranco Pellegrino. Earlier this year I hosted Federico´s 2 month long exchange to the University of Stavanger.
I have been recruited as responsible (fagansvarlig) for environmental ethics in Store Norske Leksikon, which is the largest and most read edited encyclopedia in Norway and written by professionals. The category now also includes animal ethics.
Today, during sick leave, I have had a book writing day, with some 1.300 words written on my scientific monograph Captured: CCS and the fight for the soul of the environmental movement. So far this Spring I have had 23 writing days, including 19,5 book writing days.
Today was the most productive writing day so far this year in terms of number of words written. By now I have written more than 40.000 words on the book manuscript.
Today I have given a lecture on environmental ethics, particularly climate ethics, in the University of Stavanger´s bachelor course "Bærekraft og grønn omstilling" (Sustainability and green transition). Some 25 students attended.
Yesterday was the deadline for submitting revised text to the editors of the book Mars and the Earthlings. I participate in Work group 9, which addresses political, societal and ethical aspects of going to and potentially settling on Mars. Now after recent work and editing, I am credited with having contributed to the following sections made by Workgroup 9, along with other scholars:
"Political motivations and factors for Mars race"
"Civil liberties vs. security: How much do we have to sacrifice individual freedom to survive on Mars?"
"Demography"
"Safety and governance"
"Ethical considerations of non-humans on Mars"
"Novel ecosystems"
Today I gave the second lecture in "Bærekraft og grønn omstilling" (Sustainability and green transition, SV100) at University of Stavanger. The topic was "Miljøetikk med særlig vekt på klimaetikk" (environmental ethics with emphasis on climate ethics). 10-11 people attended.
Today I have attended the faculty leadership meeting at Faculty of social studies, attended the first half of the meeting of Norway´s Council for animal ethics, and given a guest lecture at Department of early education and sports science (IGIS), in a master course on KRLE. The topic of my guest lecture was "Miljøetikk" (environmental ethics - and more). Some 25 people attended.
All events were digital.
My guest lecture on environmental ethics at Department of cultural studies and languages (cf. previous post) has been moved to November 26th.
