Engineers at the crossroads: Ethical agency under carbon constraint in international oil companies

Engineers at international oil companies (IOCs) play a critical role in energy transitions but are often overlooked in climate governance discussions. Typically framed as technical operators under a technologically deterministic perspective that emphasizes system constraints over individual judgment, their ethical agency remains invisible. Drawing on oral history interviews with IOC engineers, this article examines ethical agency within technocratic systems dependent on carbon-intensive production. Rather than treating ethical agency as a binary between compliance and resistance, it is conceptualized along two intersecting dimensions: orientation toward organisational authority (compliant vs. disruptive) and mode of engagement with sustainability (pragmatic vs. proactive). This produces four orientations: Operational Optimisation, Loyal Reformism, Technical Dissent, and Ethical Exit. By foregrounding engineers as ethical agents, the study highlights how individual orientations negotiate sustainability under carbon constraint and underscores the importance of incorporating engineering perspectives into climate governance and policy design.