Shifting expectations : how the responsibility for the habitability of the planet is shifting

Kurzfassung/Abstract

This article explores the paradoxes of managing the energy transition through the lens of Luhmann’s systems theory, using afforestation and reforestation as examples of Negative Emission Technologies (NETs). The main argument is that the social responsibility for actions necessary to sustain the biophysical conditions of society is frequently shifted onto the external environment of social systems. This occurs due to their inherent logic of preserving functional differentiation and systemic functionality. By promoting technological fixes–such as afforestation and reforestation–as climate or energy solutions, societies tend to displace responsibility rather than enact real structural change. They rely on future developments, such as the growth of new forests, which, while theoretically effective, remain contingent and uncertain. As a result, systems (political, economic, and psychic systems) continue to operate according to their established logics, avoiding disruptive transformations and failing to implement substantive climate action. The article contends that moral appeals are unlikely to produce significant shifts in individual behavior or systemic operations. Instead, meaningful transformation would require mounting pressure to reconceptualize societal structures, transcending the current paradigm of functionally differentiated systems.