concept
Targets
Targets name a coordination tool that becomes a moral substitute. They become important whenever institutions need comparable progress claims under contested causation and delayed consequences. They help preserve shared benchmarks and timed ambition, but can fail when meeting the number stands in for owning specific tradeoffs publicly. In When Incentives Become the Moral Language, targets mark the domain where harm-reduction aims survive while climate targets and ESG reporting replace responsibility language—net-zero pledges and disclosure frameworks make seriousness legible without settling causal ownership. It differs from accountability because targets measure compliance against a goal; accountability settles who owes what to whom when harm occurs.
