Publication Details

Category Text Publication
Reference Category Journals
DOI 10.2307/40041386
Title (Primary) Liability for climate change: the benefits, the costs, and the transaction costs
Author Schwarze, R.
Source Titel University of Pennsylvania Law Review
Year 2007
Department OEKON
Volume 155
Issue 6
Page From 1947
Page To 1952
Language englisch
Abstract As we learn that the danger of climate change is real and imminent, we need to develop social mechanisms to redistribute the uneven economic damages resulting from it, both nationally and internationally. The polluter-pays principle, which is widely applied in environmental policy, is an immediate way to do this. Liability for climate change has several advantages: it could generate knowledge about the size and probability of economic damages, and it would create institutions to minimize these costs, such as insurance. However, the liability model faces severe obstacles, in both national and international law, as many of the other speakers in this Symposium have pointed out. The duty of care and proof of causation are cornerstones of any system of liability. Both pose serious barriers to claims for compensation in this field. Depending on how these rules are implemented, claims for climate change-related damages could become crushingly expensive and cause high transaction costs, as the following example may show.
Persistent UFZ Identifier https://www.ufz.de/index.php?en=20939&ufzPublicationIdentifier=2301
Schwarze, R. (2007):
Liability for climate change: the benefits, the costs, and the transaction costs
Univ. Pa. Law Rev. 155 (6), 1947 - 1952 10.2307/40041386