A Climate of Risk

Precaution matters, especially when we may be on the brink of passing tipping points fit to cause catastrophic and irreversible climate change. This book does an admirable job of making the right distinctions in the right places, so as to enable a better understanding of what precaution means in the mess we are in. The distinctive view of precaution defended in the book – in particular, the Catastrophic Precautionary Principle and the Catastrophic Precautionary Decision-Making Framework – moves climate politics forward in novel and much needed ways.Catriona McKinnon, Professor of Political Theory, University of Reading

How can we get a sane grip on the real possibility that extreme climate change will unleash catastrophe? This highly original, widely knowledgeable, and deeply powerful argument shows through a balanced but revealing analysis of the three core approaches of Nordhaus, Stern, and Wagner & Weitzman that the social cost of carbon is being systematically underestimated because of blind-spots in the fundamental assumptions of economics that inevitably mask uncertain dangers of catastrophe that public policy neglects at peril to many generations – a wise and exceptionally important book accessible to non-specialists.Henry Shue, Senior Research Fellow, Centre for International Studies, University of Oxford, and author of Climate Justice

Precaution matters, especially when we may be on the brink of passing tipping points fit to cause catastrophic and irreversible climate change. This book does an admirable job of making the right distinctions in the right places, so as to enable a better understanding of what precaution means in the mess we are in. The distinctive view of precaution defended in the book - in particular, the Catastrophic Precautionary Principle, and the Catastrophic Precautionary Decision-Making Framework - moves climate politics forward in novel and much needed ways. - Catriona McKinnon, Professor of Political Theory, University of Reading

How can we get a sane grip on the real possibility that extreme climate change will unleash catastrophe? This highly original, widely knowledgeable, and deeply powerful argument shows through a balanced but revealing analysis of the three core approaches of Nordhaus, Stern, and Wagner & Weitzman that the social cost of carbon is being systematically underestimated because of blind-spots in the fundamental assumptions of economics that inevitably mask uncertain dangers of catastrophe that public policy neglects at peril to many generations - a wise and exceptionally important book accessible to non-specialists. - Henry Shue, Senior Research Fellow, Centre for International Studies, University of Oxford; and author of Climate Justice