Dassler, T. and Myhr, A.I. (2021) The ethical sustainability matrix: a practical tool for assessment of GMOs including genome-edited organisms in Hanna Schübel and Ivo Wallimann-Helmer (eds.) Justice and food security in a changing climate, EurSafe 2021 – DOI https://doi.org/10.3920/978-90-8686-915-2_57, © Wageningen Academic Publishers 2021

An ethical sustainability matrix can serve as a useful tool for finding and assessing relevant aspects of genetically modified organism (GMOs) regarding their sustainability and ethical justifiability. Here we present a restructured version of the ethical matrix originally proposed by Mepham and discuss its usefulness in technology assessment of GM and genome-edited (GE) organisms, as well as in GMO regulations that include non-safety factors. We reorganised the original ethical matrix by taking in ethical insights from virtue ethics and ethics of care in order to reduce the risk of bias. Sustainability aspects inspired by public values such as the UN sustainable development goals were also included. The proposed ethical sustainability matrix also takes into account the different types of (non)knowledge, important ethical traditions and a broad set of values, stakeholders and public opinions and emotions. Using an actual case on the GE sterile salmon, we show how the ethical sustainability matrix can be used to identify challenges and assess contribution to sustainable development, as well as its ethical justifiability and social acceptability. Thus, making it a useful assessment aid for authorities, producers, regulators and the public alike.