Before the last federal election Joshua Gans and John Quiggin made a submission to the Prime Ministerial Task Group on Emissions Trading.
Put simply, when there is uncertainty, action should be taken if the risks outweigh the costs. Scientific uncertainty has been diminished. The critical feature of this is not that the extreme risks have been revised but that the probability that no significant change will occur has been revised downwards; arguably to zero. That means that the possible upside associated with doing nothing has been eliminated only making the case stronger for action. Those who focus purely on the most extreme risks and their likelihood miss the point. The case for action is compelled by the fact that it is now clear that change is occurring.
This submission has an excellent section giving a brief history of climate change theory, science and disinformation campaigns.
PDF copy of submission here.
No comments:
Post a Comment