Sociopolitical categories of climate ethics: the Municipal Plan for Urban Afforestation (São Paulo)

Abstract

This article aims to understand the dispute between different worldviews through the analysis of proposals for the socioenvironmental reordering of a mega-metropolis. Ecocentric and anthropocentric moralities coexist in the structure of the political instrument developed to face the climate crisis: the Municipal Plan for the Urban Afforestation of the City of São Paulo – PMAU (2019). The theory of contemporary convivialism was used to polish categories emerging from the field of climate ethics: decision-making pluralism, planned naturalness, and temporal benefit. The result indicates that the structural content of the PMAU is still fragile to face the climate crisis. However, we highlight the importance of including the climate ethics dimension for the evaluation and effective formulation of public instruments to mitigate climate change in cosmopolitan regions.