Convergences and Gaps between Environmental Ethics, Climate Ethics, and Research Ethics: A Scoping Review

TL;DR

This paper reviews the connections and gaps between environmental, climate, and research ethics, highlighting the need to integrate environmental concerns into research ethics frameworks.

Contribution

The paper identifies a gap between research ethics and environmental/climate ethics and suggests updating research ethics to include environmental concerns.

Findings

There is a significant gap between research ethics and environmental/climate ethics.

Climate change is over-represented in studies compared to other environmental issues.

Geoengineering research ethics may not be a generalizable model for other research areas.

Abstract

Technological innovation is a double-edged sword for the environment. While it can significantly reduce environmental and societal risks of harm, technological progress is often a major contributor to environmental degradation. This suggests the need for an anticipatory approach to research oversight which can mitigate the harmful and contradictory effects of research and innovation. In this article, we conduct a scoping review to identify cross-cutting concepts between environmental ethics, environmental justice, climate ethics, climate justice, and research ethics and integrity, focusing on literature on research and technological innovation. This article identifies an important gap between research ethics and these other topic areas. It also demonstrates the importance of updating existing research ethics frameworks to incorporate environmental concerns evident in environmental ethics and climate justice. Finally, it reveals an over-representation of studies focused upon climate change at the expense of other environmental issues, and of research on the ethics and governance of geoengineering, which we suggest is not a generalisable model for governance of research.

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s11948-025-00575-8.

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