Arguing about climate change
Judging the handling of climate risk to future generations by comparison to the general standards of conduct in the case of risk to contemporaries
Marc Davidson
9789056295530
148 pages
Amsterdam University Press
Overview
Intergenerational justice requires that climate risks to future generations be handled with the same reasonable care deemed acceptable by society in the case of risks to contemporaries. Such general standards of conduct are laid down in tort law, for example. Consequently, the validity of arguments for or against more stringent climate policy can be judged by comparison to the general standards of conduct applying in the case of risk to contemporaries. That this consistency test is able to disqualify certain arguments in the climate debate is illustrated by a further investigation of the debate on the social discount rate, used in cost-benefit analysis of climate policy.
Author Bio
The present thesis is based on research carried out by Marc Davidson at the University of Amsterdam. Marc currently works as a senior consultant at CE Delft, Solutions for environment, economy and technology, and teaches bioethics at the University of Amsterdam.
