In the face of climate change, policymakers have recognised the need for a just climate transition, which shifts the global economy towards lower greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions while addressing concerns about economic development, competitive fairness, and energy access from the global to the household level. Carbon pricing is one measure that has been proposed to efficiently incentivise low-cost emissions reductions when used in combination with other measures. However, carbon pricing is considered by some to be a divisive instrument, as critics have justice concerns about the impacts of carbon pricing on vulnerable communities. As carbon pricing instruments continue to be designed and implemented, a study of ethics and carbon pricing is important to 1) Identify the ethical issues involved in carbon pricing, 2) Conduct a normative analysis of a selection of ethical issues involved in carbon pricing and 3) Develop a set of recommendations for a selection of stakeholders. A review of the literature indicates that many of the ethical issues arising in the use of carbon pricing instruments can be addressed through careful policy design. Two case studies of national carbon tax policies demonstrate that during the policy design process, power imbalances between different stakeholder groups influence the development of carbon pricing policies, and that the rights and interests of some groups are not always represented in policy design. A normative analysis based upon stakeholder theory focusses on how the rights and interests of dependent stakeholders are represented in the design of carbon pricing instruments and provides recommendations on how representation of those rights and interests can be improved in policy design. The study advances the debate on ethics and carbon pricing from a stakeholder theory perspective and offers insights into how policy design can address the unique needs and vulnerabilities of diverse populations under a carbon price.