Between Sacrifice and Care: Reflections on Elisa Morgera’s 2026 Montesquieu Lecture

This commentary endorses Morgera’s emphasis on human rights, intergenerational justice, and the protection of vulnerable populations, while raising several concerns. It argues that the logics of sacrifice and care have deeper historical roots and are not unique to contemporary fossil-fuel-based economies. Moreover, the lecture focuses too narrowly on climate change. This is only one dimension of a broader range of environmental challenges that modern societies face. The commentary emphasizes the unavoidable trade-offs involved in defossilization, noting that energy transitions themselves generate new forms of environmental and social sacrifice. Rather than seeking to eliminate sacrifice altogether, just transitions should focus on its fair distribution, adequate compensation, and effective institutional management. Equally important is the need to align current economic incentives and power structures with long-term welfare and sustainability goals while facing an increasingly fragmented geopolitical order.