Climate Change Justice [Paperback]

A provocative contribution to the climate justice debate

Climate change and justice are so closely associated that many people take it for granted that a global climate treaty shouldindeed, mustdirectly address both issues together. But, in fact, this would be a serious mistake, one that, by dooming effective international limits on greenhouse gases, would actually make the world's poor and developing nations far worse off. This is the provocative and original argument ofClimate Change Justice. Eric Posner and David Weisbach strongly favor both a climate change agreement and efforts to improve economic justice. But they make a powerful case that the bestand possibly onlyway to get an effective climate treaty is to exclude measures designed to redistribute wealth or address historical wrongs against underdeveloped countries.

In clear language,Climate Change Justiceproposes four basic principles for designing the only kind of climate treaty that will worka forward-looking agreement that requires every country to make greenhouse-gas reductions but still makes every country better off in its own view. This kind of treaty has the best chance of actually controlling climate change and improving the welfare of people around the world.

USEric A. PosnerandDavid Weisbachteach at the University of Chicago Law School. To attract broad participation from the major countries emitting greenhouse gases, both rich and poor, a climate change treaty has to be cost-effective and perceived as fair. In this book, while agreeing that fairness matters, Posner and Weisbach make a provocative case that fairness has been widely misunderstood. Jonathan B. Wiener, Duke University

This incisive book points the only way forward on climate change. Posner and Weisbach carefully weigh the arguments on a wide range of issues, from what policies have the strongest merit to how we should value the welfare of future generationlcî