13TH BRAGA MEETINGS ON ETHICS AND POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY 26-28/June/2023
PANEL 2 / THE FEASIBILITY OF THE UBI PROPOSAL IN AN ENVIRONMENTAL CRISIS SCENARIO
CONVENORS: THIAGO SOUZA, CATARINA NEVES,ROBERTO MERRILL Guest-speaker: Professor Evelyn Forget (University of Manitoba) All inquiries about the panel should be sent to [email protected]
The coming years are critical for humanity in terms of environmental issues. The climate crisis is already causing severe consequences that endanger the lives of a significant portion of the world's population. Our society faces the challenge of finding solutions to mitigate or overcome the impacts of climate change. It is, therefore, of the utmost importance to promote interdisciplinary discussion on policy options that can help us achieve this goal. Against this backdrop, Unconditional Basic Income (hereinafter UBI) has increasingly been discussed as a viable option to address the current environmental crisis (Van Parijs, 2013; Howard & Pinto, 2019; Pinto, 2020; Souza, 2023). This renewed perspective on the UBI is justified by the potential impacts the policy can have in a range of areas. A UBI developed in alignment with an ecological agenda can help societies move towards green growth or post-productivism. Despite the many possibilities offered by a UBI when it comes to an ecological transition, insufficient evidence from basic income experiments and feasibility constraints have all contributed to a lack of widespread debate on this topic. The so-called 'political feasibility' issues are particularly significant (Vanderborght, 2006; De Wispelaere & Noguera, 2012; Torry, 2022), imposing barriers both on the discussion but also on the possibility of moving forward with UBI pilots or proposals. This panel aims to encourage discussions on the feasibility of the Basic Income proposals (i.e., both pilots and policy proposals) in the context of the current crisis. Possible questions might include:
- How can UBI contribute to an environmental and/or ecological transition? - How can we design a UBI proposal that is consistent with planetary boundaries, while also contributing to social justice? - What are the main political obstacles faced by a UBI proposal? - Does the current environmental crisis impact political and social support for both a UBI (i.e., including support to implement a basic income pilot?)
This panel is part of a broader project run by CEPS - Centre for Ethics, Politics, and Society - entitled The Moral, Economic, and Social Value of Basic Income and funded by the Portuguese Foundation of Science and Technology, which includes a comprehensive list of associate researchers worldwide. The focus of this project is to expand and systematize the methodology and analysis regarding the emergent literature on the moral, economic, and social benefits of the UBI (see the project UBIECO) and to uncover more about the mid to long-term socioeconomic benefits of implementing a UBI.