Rethinking climate reparations through the fossil bloc

Abstract

This Brief develops a framework for climate reparations grounded in principles of fault-based and political responsibility. Centred on the notion of the fossil bloc – a transnational constellation of fossil fuel producers, investors, political enablers and epistemic agents – it conceptualises fossil-related harm as a shared yet unequal consequence of production and structural facilitation. The framework allocates differentiated obligations across bloc membership and classifies climate reparations into material, monetary and symbolic forms, conceived as instruments of socio-ecological recovery and transformation. Their feasibility is approached as a juridical and institutional question, defined by legal doctrines, fiscal mechanisms and governance reforms.