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Ethical and normative implications of weather event attribution for policy discussions concerning loss and damage

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  • Allen Thompson
  • Friederike Otto

Abstract

Extreme weather events, at least in the short term, will arguably cause more damage and thus adversely affect society more than long term changes in the mean climate that are attributed to anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions. While it was long perceived as impossible to directly link a singular event with external climate drivers the emerging science of probabilistic event attribution renders it possible to attribute the fraction of risk caused by anthropogenic climate change to particular weather events and their associated losses. The robust link of only a small fraction of excessive deaths in, e.g., a heatwave to manmade climate change is very significant from an ethical point of view and we argue that this has widespread implications, e.g. for pending policy decisions concerning the Warsaw International Mechanism for Loss and Damage and the recognition of such losses in the broader context of climate justice. Copyright Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht 2015

Suggested Citation

  • Allen Thompson & Friederike Otto, 2015. "Ethical and normative implications of weather event attribution for policy discussions concerning loss and damage," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 133(3), pages 439-451, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:climat:v:133:y:2015:i:3:p:439-451
    DOI: 10.1007/s10584-015-1433-z
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Greg Lusk, 2017. "The social utility of event attribution: liability, adaptation, and justice-based loss and damage," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 143(1), pages 201-212, July.
    2. Serdeczny, Olivia & Waters, Eleanor & Chan, Sander, 2016. "Non-economic loss and damage in the context of climate change: understanding the challenges," IDOS Discussion Papers 3/2016, German Institute of Development and Sustainability (IDOS).
    3. Emily Williams, 2020. "Attributing blame?—climate accountability and the uneven landscape of impacts, emissions, and finances," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 161(2), pages 273-290, July.
    4. Dominic Roser & Christian Huggel & Markus Ohndorf & Ivo Wallimann-Helmer, 2015. "Advancing the interdisciplinary dialogue on climate justice," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 133(3), pages 349-359, December.
    5. Roberto Mera & Neil Massey & David Rupp & Philip Mote & Myles Allen & Peter Frumhoff, 2015. "Climate change, climate justice and the application of probabilistic event attribution to summer heat extremes in the California Central Valley," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 133(3), pages 427-438, December.
    6. Friederike E. L. Otto & Petra Minnerop & Emmanuel Raju & Luke J. Harrington & Rupert F. Stuart‐Smith & Emily Boyd & Rachel James & Richard Jones & Kristian C. Lauta, 2022. "Causality and the fate of climate litigation: The role of the social superstructure narrative," Global Policy, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 13(5), pages 736-750, November.

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