Who’s to Blame for the Climate Crisis?

Abstract Climate change presents a paradox for moral judgment: its harms are immense and predictable, yet they arise from diffuse collective processes that seem to frustrate attributions of blame. Thus, many believe responsibility can only be coherently understood in forward-looking, structural terms. I argue, however, that a small but powerful group of actors, which I call the “Carbon Axis,” bears responsibility in a thick, backward-looking sense. The standard excuses (e.g., insignificance, ignorance, and lack of intent), which may exculpate some ordinary contributions to harm, afford this group scant moral cover. If anyone is culpable for the climate crisis, the Axis is.