Abstract

The growing reliance on biomass within European climate and circular economy strategies calls not only for technical evaluation but also for sustained philosophical reflection. This paper offers a normative inquiry into biomass utilization through the lens of flourishing within limits, situating renewable energy works within broader ethical debates on responsibility, intergenerational justice, and human well-being in the Anthropo cene.

Drawing on Hans Jonas's ethics of responsibility, the paper argues that biomass deployment must be guided by a forward-looking moral imperative attentive to long-term ecological consequences and the vulnerabili ty of future generations. Jonas's insistence on preserving the conditions for the continuity of life supports a precautionary and restrained approach to biomass development, particularly in ecologically sensitive and politically transitional contexts.

In dialogue with Jonas, the paper engages Philip Cafaro's environmental virtue ethics, emphasizing the moral character and practical dispositions required for genuinely sustainable energy choices. Virtues such as mod eration, humility, and care challenge the growth-oriented rationalities embedded in some biomass policies and articulate an alternative vision of human flourishing grounded in ecological limits.

By bringing responsibility ethics and virtue ethics into conversation, the paper contends that a just circular economy must extend beyond material efficiency to include ethical self-limitation, relational accountability, and respect for planetary boundaries. It thus advances a philosophical foundation for circular justice, one that embeds biomass strategies within a normative framework of responsibility, restraint, and shared flourishing.

DOI: doi.org/10.63721/26JGEAS0130

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