[Linkpost] BBC - How much does having a baby contribute to climate change?

I recently had the opportunity to talk about the climate effects of having children on the BBC’s What In the World podcast in an episode titled “How much does having a baby contribute to climate change?” (link, X/Twitter).

The episode is very short (~15min) and conversational and covers the debate from several angles and with multiple voices. I try to make the argument, building on prior work with John Halstead, that (i) extrapolating from current emissions massively overestimates expected emissions of kids born today (“a kid born today will never drive a petrol car”) and that, in addition to that, (ii) credible jurisdiction-level policies such as the UK’s net-zero targets should lead to a situation where additional kids in those jurisdictions have (close to) zero counterfactual impact. (iii) Instead of making our decision about having children about climate change, our primary responsibility as individuals should lie in holding our governments accountable that targets are met and ambitious policies maintained / passed.

I actually found it somewhat shocking how normalized / unquestioned anti-natalist assumptions are even in 2024. I am the only voice in the episode questioning the idea that climate change should not be a reason to not have children. So I hope that’s a useful intervention and reference to point to.