Skip to main content

Aaron Maltais

Stockholm Environment Institute, Climate, Energy & Society, Faculty Member

Followers

108

Following

86

Co-author

1

Public Views

I am a Research Fellow at the Stockholm Environment Institute within the Climate, Energy, and Society unit. My current work focuses on green finance and investment and the political economy of transitions to sustainable societies. Prior to joining SEI I was as Senior Lecturer in political science at Stockholm University. Prior to that I was a Postdoctoral Fellow at Stockholm University and a Senior Lecturer and Postdoctoral Fellow at the Department of Government at Uppsala University. My academic specialisations are in contemporary political theory, environmental politics, and international relations. My academic research has focused on the international cooperation and political economy challenges climate change has generated and their implications for just and effective climate governance. I have also done work on global justice, legal theory, human rights, and democratic theory. Prior to doing my PhD at Uppsala University I worked at the SEI on policy-oriented research on international trade and sustainable development, international environmental policy integration, and environmental security.

less

Anne Schwenkenbecher

Murdoch University

Christian Baatz

Christian-Albrechts-Universität zu Kiel

Chandrachur Singh

University of Birmingham

The University of Scranton

University of Leeds

University of Gothenburg

Goran Duus-Otterstrom

University of Gothenburg

The University of New South Wales

University of Warwick

Rasmus A Karlsson

Halmstad University

InterestsView All (36)

Uploads

Papers by Aaron Maltais

Failing International Climate Politics and the Fairness of Going First

Political Studies, Sep 13, 2013

There appear to be few ways available to improve the prospects for international cooperation to a... more There appear to be few ways available to improve the prospects for international cooperation to address the threat of global warming within the very short timeframe for action. I argue that the most effective and plausible way to break the ongoing pattern of delay in the international climate regime is for economically powerful states to take the lead domestically and demonstrate that economic welfare is compatible with rapidly decreasing GHG emissions. However, the costs and risks of acting first can be very large. This raises the question of whether it is fair to expect some states to go far ahead of others in an effort to improve the conditions for cooperation. I argue that a costly obligation to act unilaterally and to accept weak initial reciprocity can be justified and does not violate standards of fair burden sharing. Rather, the costs of creating the underlying conditions within which we can hope to achieve meaningful international cooperation are non-ideal burdens for which we can appropriately assign fair shares.

Policy priorities for mobilizing investment in Swedish green industrial transitions

The aim of this report is to better understand the key challenges for investments in technologica... more The aim of this report is to better understand the key challenges for investments in technological and production changes that bring deep emissions cuts in heavy industry in Sweden. In this report we refer to this as investments in deep green industrial transitions. We investigate this matter from the perspective of both industry actors and actors from the financial sector. We investigate the following research questions: •Is the size of the capital investments needed for green industrial production a significant challenge for bringing about these transitions in Sweden? •What are the most important challenges for actors’ willingness to invest in deep green industrial transitions and investors’ willingness to provide financing for those investments? •What policies do industrial and financial actors think can best support the willingness to invest in and provide financing for deep green industrial transitions in Sweden?

Integrating Perspectives on Environmental Security

The purpose of this paper is to present approaches to environmental security and to identify issu... more The purpose of this paper is to present approaches to environmental security and to identify issues within this field that are relevant to development policies and programmes aiming at alleviating poverty and addressing environmental degradation. Debate over the concept and definition of environmental security has been important in this field, as it has resulted in diverse research foci and results. Here, we introduce the debates, key insights in different areas, contributions of vulnerability analysis to enhancing security, and suggestions to advance current practice and understanding. Environmental degradation and violent conflict is the most heavily investigated research agenda under the rubric 'environmental security', and we present the shared understandings, issues remaining under debate, and criticisms of the work that has been done thus far. We then make a case for using vulnerability approach in thinking about environmental security, emphasising that the vulnerability perspective places focus on livelihoods and poverty and expands the focus of analysis from state security and violent conflict to other security issues central in the lives of vulnerable groups. We review emerging dimensions of the environmental security debate as reflected in livelihood conflicts, hydropower construction, and health risks associated with climate change and urban livelihoods in developing countries areas. Research in these areas highlights how vulnerability analysis can contribute both in conceptualising environmental security and in identifying and understanding the most significant threats to vulnerable groups. Finally, beyond working with the current set of lessons learned on causes of violent conflict, we suggest several promising paths for practitioners and researchers in considering how to create institutions that can respond effectively to a variable environment and the shifting needs of the most vulnerable in a changing society.

Six Insights on Investing for Net Zero

Divesting from emissions-intensive sectors and companies seems to be the easiest solution to brin... more Divesting from emissions-intensive sectors and companies seems to be the easiest solution to bring investments in line with the Paris Agreement's goal to bring global greenhouse gas emissions to net zero by mid-century. However, we have yet to see evidence that divestment is having a strong impact on emissions in our economies. Investors may achieve far more by using their financial power to advance the decarbonization of the sectors responsible for the largest share of emissions: oil and gas, agricultural commodities, steel and cement. Large, very disruptive changes need to be initiated in the next decade to put these four high emitting sectors on track to decarbonize at a pace consistent with the Paris Agreement. That's because: Our approach is highly collaborative: stakeholder involvement is at the heart of our efforts to build capacity, strengthen institutions, and equip partners for the long term. Our work spans climate, water, air, and land-use issues, and integrates evidence and perspectives on governance, the economy, gender and human health. Across our eight centres in Europe, Asia, Africa and the Americas, we engage with policy processes, development action and business practice throughout the world.

Interactions among the Sustainable Development Goals in Sri Lanka: a systemic assessment

Developed to be interconnected by design, the 17 sustainable development goals (SDGs) and their 1... more Developed to be interconnected by design, the 17 sustainable development goals (SDGs) and their 169 targets have attracted a growing scientific community committed to exploring the systemic interactions inherent to the 2030 Agenda. Understanding which SDGs influence one another (positively or negatively) is critical to prioritize and implement policies that maximize synergies between goals while navigating trade-offs. In this way, the need for informed decision-making urgently requires knowledge of context-specific SDG interactions. Drawing on an extensive literature review (including scientific reports and scholarly articles), we collected, synthesized,

Too risky – The role of finance as a driver of sustainability transitions

Environmental innovation and societal transitions, Mar 1, 2022

Global warming and the cosmopolitan political conception of justice

Environmental Politics, Aug 1, 2008

Within the literature in green political theory on global environmental threats one can often fin... more Within the literature in green political theory on global environmental threats one can often find dissatisfaction with liberal theories of justice. This is true even though liberal cosmopolitans regularly point to global environmental problems as one reason for expanding the scope of justice beyond the territorial limits of the state. One of the causes for scepticism towards liberal approaches is that many of the most notable anti-cosmopolitan theories are also advanced by liberals. In this paper, I first explain why one of the strongest expressions of liberal anticosmopolitanism cannot simply be dismissed because it may fail to support desired environmental ends. The political conception of justice represents one of the most important challenges to cosmopolitanism generally and is thus a serious challenge to viewing global environmental problems in terms of cosmopolitan justice. Second I will show through the case of anthropogenic global warming that the political conception of justice under current conditions does have clear cosmopolitan implications despite its proponents claim.

A Climate of Disorder: What to do About the Obstacles to Effective Climate Politics

Making our Children Pay for Mitigation

Global Warming and Our Natural Duties of Justice

Compelling research in international relations and international political economy on global warm... more Compelling research in international relations and international political economy on global warming suggests that one part of any meaningful effort to radically reverse current trends of increasing green house gas (GHG) emissions is shared policies among states that generate costs for such emissions in many if not most of the world's regions. Effectively employing such policies involves gaining much more extensive global commitments and developing much stronger compliance mechanism than those currently found in the Kyoto Protocol. In other words, global warming raises the prospect that we need a global form of political authority that could coordinate the actions of states in order to address this environmental threat. This in turn suggests that any serious effort to mitigate climate change will entail new limits on the sovereignty of states. In this book I focus on the normative question of whether or not we have clear moral reasons to bind ourselves together in such a supranational form of political association. I argue that one can employ familiar liberal arguments for the moral legitimacy of political order at the state level to show that we do have a duty to support such a global political project. Even if one adopts the premises employed by the most influential forms of liberal scepticism to the ideas of global political and distributive justice, such as those advanced by John Rawls and Thomas Nagel, it is clear that the threat of global warming has expanded the scope of justice. We now have a global and demanding duty of justice to create the political conditions that would allow us to collectively address our impact on the Earth's atmosphere.

A pilot study on systems thinking in asset management

Stockholm Environment Institute is an international non-profit research and policy organization t... more Stockholm Environment Institute is an international non-profit research and policy organization that tackles environment and development challenges. We connect science and decision-making to develop solutions for a sustainable future for all. Our approach is highly collaborative: stakeholder involvement is at the heart of our efforts to build capacity, strengthen institutions, and equip partners for the long term. Our work spans climate, water, air, and land-use issues, and integrates evidence and perspectives on governance, the economy, gender and human health. Across our eight centres in Europe, Asia, Africa and the Americas, we engage with policy processes, development action and business practice throughout the world. ACKNOWLEDGEMENT The Swedish Foundation for Strategic Environmental Research, Mistra, funded the pilot study. We appreciate the input from interviewees and workshop participants. Contents About this pilot study ..

What does it take to achieve net zero? Opportunities and barriers in the steel, cement, agriculture, and oil and gas sectors

Stockholm Environment Institute is an international non-profit research and policy organization t... more Stockholm Environment Institute is an international non-profit research and policy organization that tackles environment and development challenges. We connect science and decision-making to develop solutions for a sustainable future for all. Our approach is highly collaborative: stakeholder involvement is at the heart of our efforts to build capacity, strengthen institutions, and equip partners for the long term. Our work spans climate, water, air, and land-use issues, and integrates evidence and perspectives on governance, the economy, gender and human health. Across our eight centres in Europe, Asia, Africa and the Americas, we engage with policy processes, development action and business practice throughout the world.

Forskning för Agenda 2030

Integrating perspectives on environmental security : SEI risk and vulnerability programme report 2003-01

The purpose of this paper is to present approaches to environmental security and to identify issu... more The purpose of this paper is to present approaches to environmental security and to identify issues within this field that are relevant to development policies and programmes aiming at alleviating poverty and addressing environmental degradation. Debate over the concept and definition of environmental security has been important in this field, as it has resulted in diverse research foci and results. Here, we introduce the debates, key insights in different areas, contributions of vulnerability analysis to enhancing security, and suggestions to advance current practice and understanding. Environmental degradation and violent conflict is the most heavily investigated research agenda under the rubric 'environmental security', and we present the shared understandings, issues remaining under debate, and criticisms of the work that has been done thus far. We then make a case for using vulnerability approach in thinking about environmental security, emphasising that the vulnerability perspective places focus on livelihoods and poverty and expands the focus of analysis from state security and violent conflict to other security issues central in the lives of vulnerable groups. We review emerging dimensions of the environmental security debate as reflected in livelihood conflicts, hydropower construction, and health risks associated with climate change and urban livelihoods in developing countries areas. Research in these areas highlights how vulnerability analysis can contribute both in conceptualising environmental security and in identifying and understanding the most significant threats to vulnerable groups. Finally, beyond working with the current set of lessons learned on causes of violent conflict, we suggest several promising paths for practitioners and researchers in considering how to create institutions that can respond effectively to a variable environment and the shifting needs of the most vulnerable in a changing society.

Understanding the role of green bonds in advancing sustainability

Journal of sustainable finance & investment, Feb 14, 2020

Green bonds are one of the most prominent innovations in the area of sustainable finance over the... more Green bonds are one of the most prominent innovations in the area of sustainable finance over the past decade. However, to date there have only been a few academic studies on green bonds, and these have tended to focus on what impact green labels have on bond yields. Our analysis is one of the first empirical studies designed to address the broader questions of what attracts investors and issuers to the green bond market, the role of green bonds in shifting capital to more sustainable economic activity, and how green bonds impact the way organisations work with sustainability. Using Sweden as a case study, this paper provides insights into the rapid growth of the green bond market and how green bonds affect market participants' engagement with sustainability that are easily missed if one focuses only on how green bonds are marketed.

Radically Non-Ideal Climate Politics and the Obligation to at Least Vote Green

Environmental Values, Oct 1, 2013

Obligations to reduce one's green house gas emissions appear to be difficult to justify prior to ... more Obligations to reduce one's green house gas emissions appear to be difficult to justify prior to large-scale collective action because an individual's emissions have virtually no impact on the environmental problem. However, I show that individuals' emissions choices raise the question of whether or not they can be justified as fair use of what remains of a safe global emissions budget. This is true both before and after major mitigation efforts are in place. Nevertheless, it remains difficult to establish an obligation to reduce personal emissions because it appears unlikely that governments will in fact maintain safe emissions budgets. The result, I claim, is that under current conditions we lack outcome, fairness, promotional, virtue or duty based grounds for seeing personal emissions reductions as morally obligatory. KEYWORDS Individual obligations, global warming, emissions, non-ideal, fairness. 'Had he been informed by an indisputable authority that the end of the world was to be finally accomplished by a catastrophic disturbance of the atmosphere, he would have assimilated the information under the simple idea of dirty weather, and no other, because he had no experience of cataclysms, and belief does not necessarily imply comprehension.' Joseph Conrad, Typhoon.

A pilot study on systems thinking in asset management

This report documents reflections and outcomes of the pilot study, “Piloting whether and how syst... more This report documents reflections and outcomes of the pilot study, “Piloting whether and how systems analysis could add value to Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) analysis in capital investment”, and identifies some possible ways forward in practice. The target groups are banks, asset managers, asset owners, and ESG service providers in the finance sector.

Global warming and our natural duties of justice : a cosmopolitan political conception of justice

Political Obligations in a Sea of Tyranny and Crushing Poverty

Legal Theory, Sep 1, 2014

is the strongest proponent of the natural duty theory of political obligations and argues that hi... more is the strongest proponent of the natural duty theory of political obligations and argues that his version of the theory can satisfy the key requirement of 'particularity'; namely justifying to members of a state the system of political obligations they share in. Critics argue that natural duty theories like Wellman's actually require well-ordered states and/or their members to dedicate resources to providing the goods associated with political order to needy outsiders. The implication is that natural duty approaches weaken the particularity requirement and cannot justify to citizens the systems of political obligation they share in. I argue that the critics' diagnosis of natural duty approaches is correct while the proposed implication is false. I maintain that 1) only natural duty approaches can justify political obligations and that 2) weakening the particularity requirement contributes to the theory's ability to justify a range-limited system of political obligations among compatriots.

Who is most at risk of losing out from low-carbon transition in the food and transport sectors in Sweden? Equity considerations from a consumption perspective

Energy Research & Social Science

Failing International Climate Politics and the Fairness of Going First

Political Studies, Sep 13, 2013

There appear to be few ways available to improve the prospects for international cooperation to a... more There appear to be few ways available to improve the prospects for international cooperation to address the threat of global warming within the very short timeframe for action. I argue that the most effective and plausible way to break the ongoing pattern of delay in the international climate regime is for economically powerful states to take the lead domestically and demonstrate that economic welfare is compatible with rapidly decreasing GHG emissions. However, the costs and risks of acting first can be very large. This raises the question of whether it is fair to expect some states to go far ahead of others in an effort to improve the conditions for cooperation. I argue that a costly obligation to act unilaterally and to accept weak initial reciprocity can be justified and does not violate standards of fair burden sharing. Rather, the costs of creating the underlying conditions within which we can hope to achieve meaningful international cooperation are non-ideal burdens for which we can appropriately assign fair shares.

Policy priorities for mobilizing investment in Swedish green industrial transitions

The aim of this report is to better understand the key challenges for investments in technologica... more The aim of this report is to better understand the key challenges for investments in technological and production changes that bring deep emissions cuts in heavy industry in Sweden. In this report we refer to this as investments in deep green industrial transitions. We investigate this matter from the perspective of both industry actors and actors from the financial sector. We investigate the following research questions: •Is the size of the capital investments needed for green industrial production a significant challenge for bringing about these transitions in Sweden? •What are the most important challenges for actors’ willingness to invest in deep green industrial transitions and investors’ willingness to provide financing for those investments? •What policies do industrial and financial actors think can best support the willingness to invest in and provide financing for deep green industrial transitions in Sweden?

Integrating Perspectives on Environmental Security

The purpose of this paper is to present approaches to environmental security and to identify issu... more The purpose of this paper is to present approaches to environmental security and to identify issues within this field that are relevant to development policies and programmes aiming at alleviating poverty and addressing environmental degradation. Debate over the concept and definition of environmental security has been important in this field, as it has resulted in diverse research foci and results. Here, we introduce the debates, key insights in different areas, contributions of vulnerability analysis to enhancing security, and suggestions to advance current practice and understanding. Environmental degradation and violent conflict is the most heavily investigated research agenda under the rubric 'environmental security', and we present the shared understandings, issues remaining under debate, and criticisms of the work that has been done thus far. We then make a case for using vulnerability approach in thinking about environmental security, emphasising that the vulnerability perspective places focus on livelihoods and poverty and expands the focus of analysis from state security and violent conflict to other security issues central in the lives of vulnerable groups. We review emerging dimensions of the environmental security debate as reflected in livelihood conflicts, hydropower construction, and health risks associated with climate change and urban livelihoods in developing countries areas. Research in these areas highlights how vulnerability analysis can contribute both in conceptualising environmental security and in identifying and understanding the most significant threats to vulnerable groups. Finally, beyond working with the current set of lessons learned on causes of violent conflict, we suggest several promising paths for practitioners and researchers in considering how to create institutions that can respond effectively to a variable environment and the shifting needs of the most vulnerable in a changing society.

Six Insights on Investing for Net Zero

Divesting from emissions-intensive sectors and companies seems to be the easiest solution to brin... more Divesting from emissions-intensive sectors and companies seems to be the easiest solution to bring investments in line with the Paris Agreement's goal to bring global greenhouse gas emissions to net zero by mid-century. However, we have yet to see evidence that divestment is having a strong impact on emissions in our economies. Investors may achieve far more by using their financial power to advance the decarbonization of the sectors responsible for the largest share of emissions: oil and gas, agricultural commodities, steel and cement. Large, very disruptive changes need to be initiated in the next decade to put these four high emitting sectors on track to decarbonize at a pace consistent with the Paris Agreement. That's because: Our approach is highly collaborative: stakeholder involvement is at the heart of our efforts to build capacity, strengthen institutions, and equip partners for the long term. Our work spans climate, water, air, and land-use issues, and integrates evidence and perspectives on governance, the economy, gender and human health. Across our eight centres in Europe, Asia, Africa and the Americas, we engage with policy processes, development action and business practice throughout the world.

Interactions among the Sustainable Development Goals in Sri Lanka: a systemic assessment

Developed to be interconnected by design, the 17 sustainable development goals (SDGs) and their 1... more Developed to be interconnected by design, the 17 sustainable development goals (SDGs) and their 169 targets have attracted a growing scientific community committed to exploring the systemic interactions inherent to the 2030 Agenda. Understanding which SDGs influence one another (positively or negatively) is critical to prioritize and implement policies that maximize synergies between goals while navigating trade-offs. In this way, the need for informed decision-making urgently requires knowledge of context-specific SDG interactions. Drawing on an extensive literature review (including scientific reports and scholarly articles), we collected, synthesized,

Too risky – The role of finance as a driver of sustainability transitions

Environmental innovation and societal transitions, Mar 1, 2022

Global warming and the cosmopolitan political conception of justice

Environmental Politics, Aug 1, 2008

Within the literature in green political theory on global environmental threats one can often fin... more Within the literature in green political theory on global environmental threats one can often find dissatisfaction with liberal theories of justice. This is true even though liberal cosmopolitans regularly point to global environmental problems as one reason for expanding the scope of justice beyond the territorial limits of the state. One of the causes for scepticism towards liberal approaches is that many of the most notable anti-cosmopolitan theories are also advanced by liberals. In this paper, I first explain why one of the strongest expressions of liberal anticosmopolitanism cannot simply be dismissed because it may fail to support desired environmental ends. The political conception of justice represents one of the most important challenges to cosmopolitanism generally and is thus a serious challenge to viewing global environmental problems in terms of cosmopolitan justice. Second I will show through the case of anthropogenic global warming that the political conception of justice under current conditions does have clear cosmopolitan implications despite its proponents claim.

A Climate of Disorder: What to do About the Obstacles to Effective Climate Politics

Making our Children Pay for Mitigation

Global Warming and Our Natural Duties of Justice

Compelling research in international relations and international political economy on global warm... more Compelling research in international relations and international political economy on global warming suggests that one part of any meaningful effort to radically reverse current trends of increasing green house gas (GHG) emissions is shared policies among states that generate costs for such emissions in many if not most of the world's regions. Effectively employing such policies involves gaining much more extensive global commitments and developing much stronger compliance mechanism than those currently found in the Kyoto Protocol. In other words, global warming raises the prospect that we need a global form of political authority that could coordinate the actions of states in order to address this environmental threat. This in turn suggests that any serious effort to mitigate climate change will entail new limits on the sovereignty of states. In this book I focus on the normative question of whether or not we have clear moral reasons to bind ourselves together in such a supranational form of political association. I argue that one can employ familiar liberal arguments for the moral legitimacy of political order at the state level to show that we do have a duty to support such a global political project. Even if one adopts the premises employed by the most influential forms of liberal scepticism to the ideas of global political and distributive justice, such as those advanced by John Rawls and Thomas Nagel, it is clear that the threat of global warming has expanded the scope of justice. We now have a global and demanding duty of justice to create the political conditions that would allow us to collectively address our impact on the Earth's atmosphere.

A pilot study on systems thinking in asset management

Stockholm Environment Institute is an international non-profit research and policy organization t... more Stockholm Environment Institute is an international non-profit research and policy organization that tackles environment and development challenges. We connect science and decision-making to develop solutions for a sustainable future for all. Our approach is highly collaborative: stakeholder involvement is at the heart of our efforts to build capacity, strengthen institutions, and equip partners for the long term. Our work spans climate, water, air, and land-use issues, and integrates evidence and perspectives on governance, the economy, gender and human health. Across our eight centres in Europe, Asia, Africa and the Americas, we engage with policy processes, development action and business practice throughout the world. ACKNOWLEDGEMENT The Swedish Foundation for Strategic Environmental Research, Mistra, funded the pilot study. We appreciate the input from interviewees and workshop participants. Contents About this pilot study ..

What does it take to achieve net zero? Opportunities and barriers in the steel, cement, agriculture, and oil and gas sectors

Stockholm Environment Institute is an international non-profit research and policy organization t... more Stockholm Environment Institute is an international non-profit research and policy organization that tackles environment and development challenges. We connect science and decision-making to develop solutions for a sustainable future for all. Our approach is highly collaborative: stakeholder involvement is at the heart of our efforts to build capacity, strengthen institutions, and equip partners for the long term. Our work spans climate, water, air, and land-use issues, and integrates evidence and perspectives on governance, the economy, gender and human health. Across our eight centres in Europe, Asia, Africa and the Americas, we engage with policy processes, development action and business practice throughout the world.

Forskning för Agenda 2030

Integrating perspectives on environmental security : SEI risk and vulnerability programme report 2003-01

The purpose of this paper is to present approaches to environmental security and to identify issu... more The purpose of this paper is to present approaches to environmental security and to identify issues within this field that are relevant to development policies and programmes aiming at alleviating poverty and addressing environmental degradation. Debate over the concept and definition of environmental security has been important in this field, as it has resulted in diverse research foci and results. Here, we introduce the debates, key insights in different areas, contributions of vulnerability analysis to enhancing security, and suggestions to advance current practice and understanding. Environmental degradation and violent conflict is the most heavily investigated research agenda under the rubric 'environmental security', and we present the shared understandings, issues remaining under debate, and criticisms of the work that has been done thus far. We then make a case for using vulnerability approach in thinking about environmental security, emphasising that the vulnerability perspective places focus on livelihoods and poverty and expands the focus of analysis from state security and violent conflict to other security issues central in the lives of vulnerable groups. We review emerging dimensions of the environmental security debate as reflected in livelihood conflicts, hydropower construction, and health risks associated with climate change and urban livelihoods in developing countries areas. Research in these areas highlights how vulnerability analysis can contribute both in conceptualising environmental security and in identifying and understanding the most significant threats to vulnerable groups. Finally, beyond working with the current set of lessons learned on causes of violent conflict, we suggest several promising paths for practitioners and researchers in considering how to create institutions that can respond effectively to a variable environment and the shifting needs of the most vulnerable in a changing society.

Understanding the role of green bonds in advancing sustainability

Journal of sustainable finance & investment, Feb 14, 2020

Green bonds are one of the most prominent innovations in the area of sustainable finance over the... more Green bonds are one of the most prominent innovations in the area of sustainable finance over the past decade. However, to date there have only been a few academic studies on green bonds, and these have tended to focus on what impact green labels have on bond yields. Our analysis is one of the first empirical studies designed to address the broader questions of what attracts investors and issuers to the green bond market, the role of green bonds in shifting capital to more sustainable economic activity, and how green bonds impact the way organisations work with sustainability. Using Sweden as a case study, this paper provides insights into the rapid growth of the green bond market and how green bonds affect market participants' engagement with sustainability that are easily missed if one focuses only on how green bonds are marketed.

Radically Non-Ideal Climate Politics and the Obligation to at Least Vote Green

Environmental Values, Oct 1, 2013

Obligations to reduce one's green house gas emissions appear to be difficult to justify prior to ... more Obligations to reduce one's green house gas emissions appear to be difficult to justify prior to large-scale collective action because an individual's emissions have virtually no impact on the environmental problem. However, I show that individuals' emissions choices raise the question of whether or not they can be justified as fair use of what remains of a safe global emissions budget. This is true both before and after major mitigation efforts are in place. Nevertheless, it remains difficult to establish an obligation to reduce personal emissions because it appears unlikely that governments will in fact maintain safe emissions budgets. The result, I claim, is that under current conditions we lack outcome, fairness, promotional, virtue or duty based grounds for seeing personal emissions reductions as morally obligatory. KEYWORDS Individual obligations, global warming, emissions, non-ideal, fairness. 'Had he been informed by an indisputable authority that the end of the world was to be finally accomplished by a catastrophic disturbance of the atmosphere, he would have assimilated the information under the simple idea of dirty weather, and no other, because he had no experience of cataclysms, and belief does not necessarily imply comprehension.' Joseph Conrad, Typhoon.

A pilot study on systems thinking in asset management

This report documents reflections and outcomes of the pilot study, “Piloting whether and how syst... more This report documents reflections and outcomes of the pilot study, “Piloting whether and how systems analysis could add value to Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) analysis in capital investment”, and identifies some possible ways forward in practice. The target groups are banks, asset managers, asset owners, and ESG service providers in the finance sector.

Global warming and our natural duties of justice : a cosmopolitan political conception of justice

Political Obligations in a Sea of Tyranny and Crushing Poverty

Legal Theory, Sep 1, 2014

is the strongest proponent of the natural duty theory of political obligations and argues that hi... more is the strongest proponent of the natural duty theory of political obligations and argues that his version of the theory can satisfy the key requirement of 'particularity'; namely justifying to members of a state the system of political obligations they share in. Critics argue that natural duty theories like Wellman's actually require well-ordered states and/or their members to dedicate resources to providing the goods associated with political order to needy outsiders. The implication is that natural duty approaches weaken the particularity requirement and cannot justify to citizens the systems of political obligation they share in. I argue that the critics' diagnosis of natural duty approaches is correct while the proposed implication is false. I maintain that 1) only natural duty approaches can justify political obligations and that 2) weakening the particularity requirement contributes to the theory's ability to justify a range-limited system of political obligations among compatriots.

Who is most at risk of losing out from low-carbon transition in the food and transport sectors in Sweden? Equity considerations from a consumption perspective

Energy Research & Social Science

The Ethics of Climate Governance

by Aaron Maltais and Catriona McKinnon

Forthcoming, Aaron Maltais and Catriona McKinnon eds., Rowman & Littlefield International. Th... more Forthcoming, Aaron Maltais and Catriona McKinnon eds., Rowman & Littlefield International.

The ethics of climate governance is of critical importance to current debates in climate justice, yet until now it has been largely neglected. This book explores the ethical dimensions of bringing the threat of global warming under effective political control. It addresses problems of domination and vulnerability in international climate negotiations, democratic legitimacy and equity in climate governance, strategies for dealing with gridlock in climate governance, and new problems of governance raised by the technologies of geoengineering and biomass incineration. This hugely important and timely collection of essays showcases the latest work by established and the best emerging scholars in this field, striking out in a new direction in the climate justice debate

Global Warming and Our Natural Duties of Justice

Dissertation presented at Uppsala University to be publicly examined in Brusewitzsalen, Gamla tor... more Dissertation presented at Uppsala University to be publicly examined in Brusewitzsalen, Gamla torget 6, Uppsala, Friday, May 16, 2008 at 13:15 for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. The examination will be conducted in English. Abstract Maltais, A. 2008. Global Warming and Our Natural Duties of Justice. A cosmopolitan political conception of justice. Acta Universitatis Upsaliensis. Skrifter utgivna av Statsvetenskapliga föreningen i Uppsala 172. 236 pp. Uppsala. ISBN 978-91-554-7184-2.