Corruptions of Commodification

At the Kyoto conference on global warming in 1997, the US demanded that any mandatory worldwide emissions standards include a trading scheme allowing countries to buy and sell the right to pollute. Arguing against the scheme in the New York Times, the political philosopher Michael Sandel suggested that letting countries buy the right to pollute was like letting people pay to litter. If rich countries could buy their way out of the duty to reduce their emissions, the sense of common sacrifice necessary to build global co-operation in future would be undermined. We should aim to strengthen the stigma attached to despoiling the planet, he argued. Treating pollution as a commodity was bound to diminish the role of morality in dealing with environmental problems.