Savaresi, Annalisa

English

Edinburgh Research Explorer

Edinburgh Research Explorer Climate Change Justice, by Eric A. Posner &amp;David Weisbach; Human Rights and Climate Change,edited by Stephen HumphreysCitation for published version:Savaresi, A 2013, 'Climate Change Justice, by Eric A. Posner & David Weisbach; Human Rights andClimate Change, edited by Stephen Humphreys' Transnational Environmental Law, vol 2, no. 1, pp. 198-201., 10.1017/S2047102513000071Digital Object Identifier (DOI):10.1017/S2047102513000071Link:Link to publication record in Edinburgh Research ExplorerDocument Version:Publisher final version (usually the publisher pdf)Published In:Transnational Environmental LawPublisher Rights Statement:© Savaresi, A. (2013). Climate Change Justice, by Eric A. Posner & David Weisbach; Human Rights andClimate Change, edited by Stephen Humphreys. Transnational Environmental Law, 2(1), 198-201.10.1017/S2047102513000071General rightsCopyright for the publications made accessible via the Edinburgh Research Explorer is retained by the author(s)and / or other copyright owners and it is a condition of accessing these publications that users recognise andabide by the legal requirements associated with these rights.Take down policyThe University of Edinburgh has made every reasonable effort to ensure that Edinburgh Research Explorercontent complies with UK legislation. If you believe that the public display of this file breaches copyright pleasecontact openaccess@ed.ac.uk providing details, and we will remove access to the work immediately andinvestigate your claim.Download date: 20. Feb. 2015Transnational Environmental Lawhttp://journals.cambridge.org/TELAdditional services for Transnational EnvironmentalLaw:Email alerts: Click hereSubscriptions: Click hereCommercial reprints: Click hereTerms of use : Click hereClimate Change Justice, by Posner Eric A. &Weisbach David Princeton University Press, 2010,240 pp, \$27.95 hb, ISBN 9780691137759HumanRights and Climate Change, edited by HumphreysStephen Cambridge University Press, 2010, 368 pp,£62 hb, ISBN 9780521762762Annalisa SavaresiTransnational Environmental Law / Volume 2 / Issue 01 / April 2013, pp 198 - 201DOI: 10.1017/S2047102513000071, Published online: 27 March 2013Link to this article: http://journals.cambridge.org/abstract_S2047102513000071How to cite this article:Annalisa Savaresi (2013). Transnational Environmental Law, 2, pp 198-201 doi:10.1017/S2047102513000071Request Permissions : Click hereDownloaded from http://journals.cambridge.org/TEL, IP address: 129.215.19.197 on 24 Jul 2014to date outlines the difﬁculties of establishing climate change liability (politicalquestions, standing, causation, attribution and retroactivity) and, at the same time,provides key lessons for compensation claims under any other regime.The identiﬁed shortcomings notwithstanding, both books contain valuable andbroad analysis of the issue of climate change liability. In particular, they contribute toour knowledge about the organization and prospects for climate change litigationunder different legal regimes.Leonardo MassaiCatholic University of Lille (France) andCoalition for Rainforest Nations, New York, NY (US)Transnational Environmental Law, 2:1 (2013), pp. 198–201  2013 Cambridge University Pressdoi:10.1017/S2047102513000071Climate Change Justice, by Eric A. Posner & David WeisbachPrinceton University Press, 2010, 240 pp, $27.95 hb, ISBN 9780691137759Human Rights and Climate Change, edited by Stephen HumphreysCambridge University Press, 2010, 368 pp, £62 hb, ISBN 9780521762762The two books under review focus on the relationship between climate change andjustice. In their book, Posner and Weisbach set out to confute arguments that theinternational climate regime should reﬂect principles of corrective and distributivejustice. Instead, they view competing claims about justice as largely responsible forthe failure of countries to agree on effective climate action and regard the stalematein the international negotiations as a result of disparity between developed anddeveloping country obligations.To substantiate their claims, Posner and Weisbach offer a sophisticated analysis ofissues relating to per capita emissions and discounting. The gist of their argument isthat the climate regime is hardly a suitable forum for tackling questions concerningintragenerational and intergenerational equity. They consequently suggest that thesebe addressed through other devices, such as development aid. On corrective justice, theauthors maintain that a climate treaty cannot be an instrument to settle scores andaddress questions of liability.The alternative proposed by Posner and Weisbach is an ‘international paretianism’paradigm, through which all states would be better off as a result of agreement. Theauthors deﬁne an ‘optimal climate treaty’ as one where the marginal cost of reducingemissions equals the marginal beneﬁts (p. 55). They also insist that to resolve theclimate crisis, large-scale ﬁnancial transfers to the poor cannot form a part of theinternational climate treaty, and that ‘no principle of justice requires that theseproblems be addressed simultaneously or multilaterally’ (p. 197).198 Transnational Environmental Law, 2:1 (2013), pp. 191–201The Posner and Weisbach book has proved to be controversial, attracting criticismfrom several fronts. Some have questioned its ‘conventional thinking’ about economics;13others have argued that rejecting the ethical arguments of developing countries holdsthe potential for derailing the negotiations, also remarking that the idea of an optimaltreaty is in itself a utopia.14 It is difﬁcult to disagree with such criticism. ClimateChange Justice leaves the reader questioning the added value of the authors’ analysis,which seems to seek to justify the status quo and provides a rather gloomy outlook forthe future of international climate cooperation.Confronted with a tidal wave of criticism, Posner and Weisbach have subsequentlysought to clarify that paretianism is not an ethical principle, but a ‘feasibilityconstraint’ intended to function as ‘a device to discipline our thinking’ about possiblesolutions to climate change.15 In their view, an international climate regime needs to beparticularly sensitive to feasibility, leaving out questions of wealth redistribution.The book edited by Humphreys takes an almost diametrically opposed view of theissue. It includes excellent and thought-provoking analysis by 12 distinguishedexperts on the relationship between human rights and climate change. The linkbetween climate change and questions of justice and distribution is emphasized inseveral pieces. The ﬁl rouge is that climate change will undermine the realization ofa broad range of internationally protected human rights. Tackling climate change willrequire revisiting development models and making far-reaching decisions on accessand use of resources. Despite developments since its publication in 2010, the volumeprovides a valid overview of the human rights questions posed by climate change, aswell as tools to address these challenges in an integrated fashion.16In his introductory piece, Humphreys underscores that, while it is widely acceptedthat developed countries have greater obligations than developing ones with respectto climate change, the level of such obligations has been the subject of muchcontention. He suggests that human rights standards may offer a way to manage thisdilemma by providing ‘benchmarks of acceptable outcomes based on widely agreedprinciples and legal structure’ (p. 23). Failure to integrate a human rights perspectivecould result in a missed opportunity to promote and fulﬁl extant human rights.The subsequent chapters explore these questions in greater detail, skilfullyoutlining possible human rights responses to climate change. While some contrib-utors focus on risks and global inequities, others reﬂect on climate change and justice13 C. Tickell, ‘Climate Change Justice’, The Financial Times, 12 Apr. 2010, available at: http://www.ft.com/cms/s/2/5dc7acb8-4360-11df-833f-00144feab49a.html.14 D.A. Farber, ‘Climate Justice’, 10 July 2011, at p. 6, available at: http://ssrn.com/abstract51883186;C. Heyward, ‘Climate Change Justice’ (2012) 6 Carbon and Climate Law Review, pp. 89–94, at 94.15 E.A. Posner & D.A. Weisbach, ‘International Paretianism: A Defense’, University of Chicago Institutefor Law & Economics Olin Research Paper No. 606, 12 July 2012, available at: http://ssrn.com/abstract52120650.16 A burgeoning literature has subsequently emerged on the topic: see S.McInerney-Lankford,M.Darrow&L. Rajamani, Human Rights and Climate Change: A Review of the International Legal Dimensions(World Bank, 2011); S. Humphreys, ‘Climate Change and International Human Rights Law’, inR. Rayfuse & S. Scott (eds.), International Law in the Era of Climate Change (Edward Elgar, 2012);and the literature quoted at n. 13 above. Institutional developments have also taken place, including at theUN Human Rights Council: see www.ohchr.org/EN/Issues/HRAndClimateChange/Pages/HRClimateChangeIndex.aspx.Book Reviews 199more broadly, providing a particularly interesting counter-view to the argument byPosner and Weisbach.Humphreys’ own contribution reviews in detail corrective, substantive, proceduraland formal justice claims that have been raised in the context of climate change. Heemphasizes that while none of these claims may be translated unproblematically intohuman rights language, human rights occupy much of the space of justice discourseand therefore represent an essential term of reference to address justice in the context ofclimate change (p. 45).In his piece, Simon Caney suggests that an approach to climate change that takeshuman rights into consideration entails several advantages in comparison toapproaches that prioritize cost–beneﬁt analyses. He argues that such an approachhelps to identify what climate impacts should be given priority, what kind of actionshould be taken, and who should bear the costs of action.The respective chapters by Dinah Shelton and Sam Adelman regard unfetteredsovereignty as the main obstacle to effectively addressing climate change. Accordingto Adelman, climate change provides an opportunity for more than just globalgovernance by conveying ‘intragenerational equity through an equitable redistributionof resources from countries primarily responsible for the problem to those withinadequate resources’ (p. 178).Other contributions in the volume emphasize that if the climate regime is tofunction effectively, key issues, such as equity and accountability, need to be deﬁned.Human rights may offer the means for doing so and the editor concludes thata dialogue between the two highly specialized branches of the law may forge ‘anincreased capacity for justice in an interdependent world’ (p. 317).Human Rights and Climate Change has been well received and widely quoted,becoming essential reading for those researching the ﬁeld. The views expressed by thecontributors have been commended for pushing the boundaries of legal thinking, andas a useful conceptualization of the human rights implications of climate change.17Thus, these two engaging volumes offer perspectives on the climate justice debatefrom the opposing ends of the spectrum. Posner and Weisbach put forward a disen-chanted view of the international legal system, arguing that states’ self-interestprovides themain (if not the only) reasonable foundation for an international regime toeffectively tackle climate change. In contrast, the volume edited by Humphreysemphasizes the need to consider the human rights implications of climate change,arguing that this may also assist in ﬁnding an equitable solution to the climate crisis.Both arguments hold some truth. As Posner and Weisbach suggest, grand state-ments on principles of justice are unlikely to deliver a global agreement on climatechange. The volume edited by Humphreys, however, provides resounding evidencethat a global deal on climate change remains ephemerous if it does not providea solution to justice questions. Eventually, Posner and Weisbach also have conceded17 T. Koivurova, ‘Review: Human Rights and Climate Change’ (2012) 106(2) The American Journal ofInternational Law, pp. 437–43.200 Transnational Environmental Law, 2:1 (2013), pp. 191–201some space to ethical concerns.18 Phrasing these considerations in terms of justice isa mere matter of semantics. Still, the two volumes diverge dramatically over whatcould and should be done to tackle climate change. Given the lack of meaningfulprogress in the international climate negotiations, the creative and visionary thinkingin these two volumes offers welcome food for thought for those entrusted with ﬁndinga solution to the climate crisis.Annalisa SavaresiUniversity of Edinburgh (UK)18 Posner & Weisbach, n. 15 above, at p. 10.Book Reviews 201

Climate Change Justice, by Eric A. Posner &amp; David Weisbach; Human Rights and Climate Change, edited by Stephen Humphreys

Annalisa Savaresi

Crossref

Transnational Environmental Law

Climate Change Justice, by Eric A. Posner &amp; David Weisbach Princeton University Press, 2010, 240 pp, $27.95 hb, ISBN 9780691137759 - Human Rights and Climate Change, edited by Stephen Humphreys Cambridge University Press, 2010, 368 pp, £62 hb, ISBN 9780521762762

<em>Climate Change Justice</em>, by Eric A. Posner & David Weisbach; <em>Human Rights and Climate Change</em>, edited by Stephen Humphreys

Abstract

Similar works

Full text

Available Versions

Edinburgh Research Explorer

Crossref

<em>Climate Change Justice</em>, by Eric A. Posner &amp; David Weisbach; <em>Human Rights and Climate Change</em>, edited by Stephen Humphreys

Abstract

Similar works

Full text

Available Versions

Edinburgh Research Explorer

Crossref

<em>Climate Change Justice</em>, by Eric A. Posner & David Weisbach; <em>Human Rights and Climate Change</em>, edited by Stephen Humphreys