Reconciling justice and attribution research to advance climate policy

Christian Huggel (1) , Ivo Wallimann-Helmer , Daithi Stone (2) , Wolfgang Cramer (3)

1 Glaciology, Geomorphodynamics and Geochronology, Physical Geography Division, Department of Geography
2 CSAG - Climate Systems Analysis Group [Cape Town]
3 IMBE - Institut méditerranéen de biodiversité et d'écologie marine et continentale

The Paris Climate Agreement is an important step for international climate policy, but the compensation for negative effects of climate change based on clear assignment of responsibilities remains highly debated. From both a policy and a science perspective, it is unclear how responsibilities should be defined and on what evidence base. We explore different normative principles of justice relevant to climate change impacts, and ask how different forms of causal evidence of impacts drawn from detection and attribution research could inform policy approaches in accordance with justice considerations. We reveal a procedural injustice based on the imbalance of observations and knowledge of impacts between developed and developing countries. This type of injustice needs to be considered in policy negotiations and decisions, and efforts strengthened to reduce it.

Domaines: Biodiversité et Ecologie

Christian Huggel, Ivo Wallimann-Helmer, Daithi Stone, Wolfgang Cramer. Reconciling justice and attribution research to advance climate policy. Nature Climate Change, 2016, 6 (10), pp.901-908. ⟨10.1038/NCLIMATE3104⟩. ⟨hal-01444653⟩