CHAPTER 3: THE UNESCO DECLARATION ON ETHICAL PRINCIPLES IN RELATION TO CLIMATE CHANGE: THE REHABILITATION OF VALUES IN THE SERVICE OF THE EFFICIENCY OF LAW

Abstract

The declaration adopted on 13 November 2017 by UNESCO establishes a short list of ethical principles to guide decision-making and policy development in the fight against climate change at all levels, including local, national, regional and international levels. In this perspective, it addresses political and institutional decision makers as well as companies, associations and individuals, in order to mobilize society as a whole to tackle climate change. While the aims set by the drafters of the declaration undoubtedly seem encouraging and fully justified consi-dering the need for global action in this area, one cannot but wonder about the instrument chosen to implement them, namely ethics. This choice suggests a text with two obvious, if not crippling, limits: a non-binding character on the one hand and limited credibility resulting from the use of values on the other hand. Under these conditions, a question inevitably arises: why ethics?