Climate Change Policy: A Survey

Stephen H. Schneider · Armin Rosencranz · John O. Niles

2002-08 · Island Press

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Questions surrounding the issue of climate change are evolving from "Is it happening?" to "What can be done about it?" The primary obstacles to addressing it at this point are not scientific but political and economic; nonetheless a quick resolution is unlikely.

Ignorance and confusion surrounding the issue -- including a lack of understanding of climate science, its implications for the environment and society, and the range of policy options available -- contributes to the political morass over dealing with climate change in which we find ourselves. Climate Change Policy addresses that situation by bringing together a wide range of new writings from leading experts that examine the many dimensions of the topics most important in understanding climate change and policies to combat it. Chapters consider:

• climate science in historical perspective
• analysis of uncertainties in climate science and policy
• the economics of climate policy
• North-South and intergenerational equity issues
• the role of business and industry in climate solutions
• policy mechanisms including joint implementation, emissions trading, and the so-called clean development mechanism

Regardless of the fate of the Kyoto Protocol, the issues raised in that debate will persist as new climate protection regimes emerge; this volume treats most of those topics. Tying the chapters together is a shared conclusion that climate change is a real and serious problem, and that we as a society have an obligation not merely to adapt to it but to mitigate it in whatever intelligent ways we can develop. Cost-effectiveness is not disdained, but neither is the imperative for valuing species threatened by rapid climate change.

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Stephen H. Schneider is professor in the Department of Biological Sciences at Stanford University. Armin Rosencranz is a consulting professor in the Department of Human Biology at Stanford University. John O. Niles is a graduate student in energy and resources at the University of California at Berkeley. In addition to the editors, contributors include Daniel Kammen, Jonathan Wiener, Frederick Meyerson, Lawrence Goulder, John Berger, Orie Loucks, Reimund Schwarze, Richard Wolfson, Anil Agrawal, and others.