Favoring both a climate change agreement and efforts to improve economic justice, this title makes a case that the best - and possibly only - way to get an effective climate treaty is to exclude measures designed to redistribute wealth or address historical wrongs against underdeveloped countries.

Acknowledgments vii Introduction 1 Chapter 1: Ethically Relevant Facts and Predictions 10 Chapter 2: Policy Instruments 41 Chapter 3: Symbols, Not Substance 59 Chapter 4: Climate Change and Distributive Justice: Climate Change Blinders 73 Chapter 5: Punishing the Wrongdoers: A Climate Guilt Clause? 99 Chapter 6: Equality and the Case against Per Capita Permits 119 Chapter 7: Future Generations: The Debate over Discounting 144 Chapter 8: Global Welfare, Global Justice, and Climate Change 169 A Recapitulation 189 Afterword: The Copenhagen Accord 193 Notes 199 Index 219

"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 generations. The analysis is provocative, judicious, and accessible. Read these pages. They will clarify your thinking."—Richard J. Zeckhauser, Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University

"There is no challenge facing the world that combines the importance and the apparent intractability of the threat of global climate change. The central problem is the necessity of including all major emitting countries—both developed and developing—in a meaningful international agreement. This raises exceptionally difficult questions regarding distributional equity. Eric Posner and David Weisbach take on these questions, and in the process provide an excellent roadmap to the playing field, and—more important—some surprising and enlightening answers. This book should be on the must-read list of anyone seriously concerned about global climate policy."—Robert N. Stavins, professor and director, Harvard Project on International Climate Agreements

"Taking a clear, unflinching, and rigorous approach, this book pierces simplistic views of climate change justice, and makes a strong case for addressing climate change and justice separately. It will change the debate."—Michael P. Vandenbergh, director of the Climate Change Research Network

"This is the most sustained and broad-gauged discussion of climate justice that I know of. Serious future debates about the subject will have to deal with this book and its arguments. It will interest general readers as well as specialists in climate policy."—Richard Stewart, author of Reconstructing Climate Policy: Beyond Kyoto

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 generations. The analysis is provocative, judicious, and accessible. Read these pages. They will clarify your thinking. -- Richard J. Zeckhauser, Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University There is no challenge facing the world that combines the importance and the apparent intractability of the threat of global climate change. The central problem is the necessity of including all major emitting countries--both developed and developing--in a meaningful international agreement. This raises exceptionally difficult questions regarding distributional equity. Eric Posner and David Weisbach take on these questions, and in the process provide an excellent roadmap to the playing field, and--more important--some surprising and enlightening answers. This book should be on the must-read list of anyone seriously concerned about global climate policy. -- Robert N. Stavins, professor and director, Harvard Project on International Climate Agreements Taking a clear, unflinching, and rigorous approach, this book pierces simplistic views of climate change justice, and makes a strong case for addressing climate change and justice separately. It will change the debate. -- Michael P. Vandenbergh, director of the Climate Change Research Network This is the most sustained and broad-gauged discussion of climate justice that I know of. Serious future debates about the subject will have to deal with this book and its arguments. It will interest general readers as well as specialists in climate policy. -- Richard Stewart, author of "Reconstructing Climate Policy: Beyond Kyoto"