Over the past few years there has been a growing scholarly interest in addressing energy issues from an ethical standpoint. To contribute to this endeavor, the Research Group Philosophy of Engineering, Technology Assessment and Science (PhilETAS) at the Institute of Technology Assessment and Systems Analysis (ITAS) of the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) is organizing a three-day workshop on normative energy ethics.  

We envision energy ethics as a space to develop systematic theoretical investigations capable of analyzing energy systems, infrastructures, technologies, and policies, evaluating stakeholders’ values, judging the ethical merit of energy related choices, actions, and decisions. Moreover, we propose that reflections in energy ethics should also be able to evaluate courses of action morally. We would like to explore together how normative ethical perspectives may help address different energy issues and potentially anticipate ethical and socio-ecological problems. We are interested in discussing several perspectives, including but not limited to: 

• Capabilities Approach 
• Care Ethics 
• Virtue Ethics 
• Mobility Justice 
• Energy Sufficiency 
• Environmental, Climate, and Energy Justice 

With this workshop, our main aim is to foster new connections among younger and older researchers interested in energy and ethics. We envision the workshop as an engaged and interactive event, consisting of a few presentations and many opportunities for discussions and networking, with participation of up to 50 people. Due to the current pandemic situation, we will likely organize this workshop according to a hybrid format that allows both in person and online participation. More information will be provided in the coming weeks.  

Call for Participation

We invite applications for participation via this registration form until September 15th, 2021. We look forward to receiving your submissions! 

For inquiries, please contact: energy-ethics∂itas.kit.edu 

Organizing Team 

Giovanni Frigo, Meike Hebich, Julia Merdes, Christine Milchram, Michael Poznic, Michael Schmidt, Lorenzo Simone, Rafaela Hillerbrand