For our immersion into business ethics I read “Counting the Cost of Fixing the Future”, a New York Times article by Eduardo Porter that detailed the social costs of global climate change on the world economy. Porter introduces the article with a study from the Obama administration that provides “new estimates of the social cost of carbon [emissions]”, compiled from predicted increases in property damage from natural disasters, rising sea levels, increased disease, and the losses in overall productivity in GDP. The cost of a ton of carbon dioxide is estimated by the US government at $65, or about 56 cents per gallon of gasoline; however, other estimates range from $13.50 to $139.56 per ton of CO2.
This article relates to business ethics because it offers choices for governments and businesses to make a differences for the future. In an ideal world, Porter suggests, would be to greatly curtail carbon emissions at any cost. This, however, presents many problems for businesses as it would greatly raise costs of operations and force costly (or at least inconvenient) alternative sources of energy. A less taxing, but nonetheless ethical option could be to pass a law taxing fossil fuels at their estimated social cost and using revenues to help curb the effects of global warming. Unfortunately, business leaders are reluctant to do this, as they don’t see an adequate return on the investment.
In this situation, I believe doing nothing would be unethical from a social standpoint. A compromise for a carbon tax would be an ethical response to this issue that would not be too taxing on businesses; providing equity without sacrificing efficiency.