Download or read book The Perils of Climate Risk written by Carole LeBlanc and published by Cambridge Scholars Publishing. This book was released on 2019-04-10 with total page 267 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book provides the average person with something to do about climate change. Based upon the contributing authors’ years of technical expertise, and their participation in a second international workshop on climate risk, it concludes with a list of action items for the old and young alike. With a ‘systems thinking’ approach, the book captures the latest developments in climate change science, atmospheric data, and public policy from leaders in their fields, including a Nobel Peace Prize recipient and a Fulbright Scholar. The book continues the discussion from the first workshop, detailed in Demystifying Climate Risk Volumes I and II (2017), on environmental, health and societal implications; and industry and industrial infrastructure implications, respectively. While the news about the future of climate change is not good, widespread adoption of these principles could literally transform the world!
Download or read book Ecosystem Crises Interactions written by Merrill Singer and published by John Wiley & Sons. This book was released on 2021-03-03 with total page 400 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Explores the human impacts on environment that lead to serious ecological crises, an innovative resource for students, professionals, and researchers alike Ecosystem Crises Interaction: Human Health and the Changing Environment provides a timely and innovative framework for understanding how negative human activity impacts the environment, and how seemingly disparate factors connect to, and magnify, hazardous consequences under a changing climate. Presenting a coherent, holistic perspective to the subject, this compelling textbook and reference examines the diverse, often unexpected links that connect our complex world in context of global climate change. The text illustrates how eco-crisis interaction—the synergistic interface of two or more environmental events or pollutants—can multiply to produce harmful health effects that are greater than their additive impact. This concept is highlighted through numerous real and relatable examples, from the use of sediment rock in hydraulic and drinking water filtration systems, to the connections between human development and crises such as deforestation, emergent infectious diseases, and global food insecurity. Throughout the text, specific examples present opportunities to consider broader questions about the extinction of species, populations, and ways of life. Presenting a balanced investigation of the interaction of contemporary ecological dangers, human behavior, and health, this unique resource: Explores how complex interactions between global warming and anthropogenic impairments magnify the diverse ecological perils and threats facing humans and other species Discusses roadblocks to addressing environmental risk, such as global elite polluters, the organized denial of climate change, and deliberate environmental disruption for financial gain Describes how the production and use of fossil fuels are driving a significant rise in carbon dioxide and other pollutants in the atmosphere and in the oceans Illustrates how industrial production is contributing to an array of environmental crises, including fuel spills, waste leakages, and loss of biodiversity Examines the critical ecosystems that are at risk from interacting stressors of human origin Ecosystem Crises Interaction: Human Health and the Changing Environment is an ideal textbook for advanced undergraduate and graduate students in courses including public and allied health, environmental studies, medical ecology, medical anthropology, and geo-health, and a valuable reference for researchers, practitioners, and policy makers in fields such as environmental health, global and planetary health, public health, climate change, and medical social science.
Download or read book The Climate Casino written by William Nordhaus and published by Yale University Press. This book was released on 2013-10-22 with total page 1006 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Climate change is profoundly altering our world in ways that pose major risks to human societies and natural systems. We have entered the Climate Casino and are rolling the global-warming dice, warns economist William Nordhaus. But there is still time to turn around and walk back out of the casino, and in this essential book the author explains how.div /DIVdivBringing together all the important issues surrounding the climate debate, Nordhaus describes the science, economics, and politics involved—and the steps necessary to reduce the perils of global warming. Using language accessible to any concerned citizen and taking care to present different points of view fairly, he discusses the problem from start to finish: from the beginning, where warming originates in our personal energy use, to the end, where societies employ regulations or taxes or subsidies to slow the emissions of gases responsible for climate change./DIVdiv /DIVdivNordhaus offers a new analysis of why earlier policies, such as the Kyoto Protocol, failed to slow carbon dioxide emissions, how new approaches can succeed, and which policy tools will most effectively reduce emissions. In short, he clarifies a defining problem of our times and lays out the next critical steps for slowing the trajectory of global warming./DIV
Download or read book A Short Guide to Climate Change Risk written by Professor Nigel Arnell and published by Gower Publishing, Ltd.. This book was released on 2015-01-28 with total page 233 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Climate change poses a risk to business operations and to markets--but at the same time it can bring opportunities for some businesses. With chapters on the nature, science and politics of climate change risk, as well as how to assess, then how to cope with it, and recommendations for incorporating climate change risks into a Company Climate Risk System, this concise guide serves the needs of business students and practitioners across a wide range of sectors, public and private.
Download or read book Managing the Risks of Extreme Events and Disasters to Advance Climate Change Adaptation written by Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2012-05-28 with total page 593 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Extreme weather and climate events, interacting with exposed and vulnerable human and natural systems, can lead to disasters. This Special Report explores the social as well as physical dimensions of weather- and climate-related disasters, considering opportunities for managing risks at local to international scales. SREX was approved and accepted by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) on 18 November 2011 in Kampala, Uganda.
Download or read book Managing Climate Risk in the U S Financial System written by Leonardo Martinez-Diaz and published by U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission . This book was released on 2020-09-09 with total page 196 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This publication serves as a roadmap for exploring and managing climate risk in the U.S. financial system. It is the first major climate publication by a U.S. financial regulator. The central message is that U.S. financial regulators must recognize that climate change poses serious emerging risks to the U.S. financial system, and they should move urgently and decisively to measure, understand, and address these risks. Achieving this goal calls for strengthening regulators’ capabilities, expertise, and data and tools to better monitor, analyze, and quantify climate risks. It calls for working closely with the private sector to ensure that financial institutions and market participants do the same. And it calls for policy and regulatory choices that are flexible, open-ended, and adaptable to new information about climate change and its risks, based on close and iterative dialogue with the private sector. At the same time, the financial community should not simply be reactive—it should provide solutions. Regulators should recognize that the financial system can itself be a catalyst for investments that accelerate economic resilience and the transition to a net-zero emissions economy. Financial innovations, in the form of new financial products, services, and technologies, can help the U.S. economy better manage climate risk and help channel more capital into technologies essential for the transition. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.5247742
Download or read book Loss and Damage From Climate Change written by Joanne Linnerooth-Bayer and published by . This book was released on 2020-10-08 with total page 562 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book provides an authoritative insight on the Loss and Damage discourse by highlighting state-of-the-art research and policy linked to this discourse and articulating its multiple concepts, principles and methods. Written by leading researchers and practitioners, it identifies practical and evidence-based policy options to inform the discourse and climate negotiations. With climate-related risks on the rise and impacts being felt around the globe has come the recognition that climate mitigation and adaptation may not be enough to manage the effects from anthropogenic climate change. This recognition led to the creation of the Warsaw International Mechanism on Loss and Damage in 2013, a climate policy mechanism dedicated to dealing with climate-related effects in highly vulnerable countries that face severe constraints and limits to adaptation. Endorsed in 2015 by the Paris Agreement and effectively considered a third pillar of international climate policy, debate and research on Loss and Damage continues to gain enormous traction. Yet, concepts, methods and tools as well as directions for policy and implementation have remained contested and vague. Suitable for researchers, policy-advisors, practitioners and the interested public, the book furthermore: - discusses the political, legal, economic and institutional dimensions of the issue - highlights normative questions central to the discourse - provides a focus on climate risks and climate risk management. - presents salient case studies from around the world.; First comprehensive stocktaking exercise highlighting the state of the art of research, political debate and policy options on loss and damage and the debate on risks "beyond adaptation" Articulates principles and definitions of loss and damage, and highlights ethical and normative issues central to the discourse Identifies practical and evidence-based policy and implementation options for its operationalization This work was published by Saint Philip Street Press pursuant to a Creative Commons license permitting commercial use. All rights not granted by the work's license are retained by the author or authors.
Download or read book Loss and Damage from Climate Change written by Reinhard Mechler and published by Springer. This book was released on 2018-12-17 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book provides an authoritative insight on the Loss and Damage discourse by highlighting state-of-the-art research and policy linked to this discourse and articulating its multiple concepts, principles and methods. Written by leading researchers and practitioners, it identifies practical and evidence-based policy options to inform the discourse and climate negotiations. With climate-related risks on the rise and impacts being felt around the globe has come the recognition that climate mitigation and adaptation may not be enough to manage the effects from anthropogenic climate change. This recognition led to the creation of the Warsaw International Mechanism on Loss and Damage in 2013, a climate policy mechanism dedicated to dealing with climate-related effects in highly vulnerable countries that face severe constraints and limits to adaptation. Endorsed in 2015 by the Paris Agreement and effectively considered a third pillar of international climate policy, debate and research on Loss and Damage continues to gain enormous traction. Yet, concepts, methods and tools as well as directions for policy and implementation have remained contested and vague. Suitable for researchers, policy-advisors, practitioners and the interested public, the book furthermore: • discusses the political, legal, economic and institutional dimensions of the issue• highlights normative questions central to the discourse • provides a focus on climate risks and climate risk management. • presents salient case studies from around the world.
Download or read book Climate Risk and Business written by Anna Dowbiggin and published by . This book was released on 2021 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "The risks that climate change has created - and will continue to create - are appearing on multiple fronts in business. Climate risk is no longer just about extreme weather events but about a spectrum of systemic risk impacts on business - and no business is immune. Dowbiggin's unique approach in Climate Risk and Business takes a much-needed risk-based view of how risk mitigation through decarbonization will transform business organizations in unprecedented ways. I applaud Dowbiggin's foresight and approach to a very timely and important topic." -Blair Feltmate, Head, Intact Centre on Climate Adaptation, Faculty of Environment, University of Waterloo, Canada "The risks posed by climate change are becoming increasingly evident with the continuous flow of extreme weather events hitting people and businesses across the world. This important book is among the first to provide an in-depth look into the nature of climate risk for business and explores the various strategies for its mitigation. It critically examines how business will have to change and adapt to become more resilient to the physical and societal impacts of climate change. Dowbiggin's book forms essential reading to get up to speed with this very important topic". -Jonatan Pinkse, Professor &, Executive Director, Manchester Institute of Innovation Research, Alliance Manchester Business School, University of Manchester, UK Addressing the urgency of radical decarbonization as a mitigative response to climate risk, this book explores how business can respond to the challenges of climate risk, through various transformational processes. Those processes involve cognitive transformations, organizational changes, climate risk integration into risk management practices, shifts in corporate reporting and disclosure as well as futuristic scenario-based planning beyond normal business planning cycles. Though much has already been written on corporate sustainability efforts, there is a greater need now for building mitigative capacity at the firm level, in alignment with shifting policy and regulatory regimes. Theoretical and empirical work on these areas is addressed in the novel thought experiment approach of this book. A research agenda for future work is provided. Dr. Anna Dowbiggin is a Professor in the School of Business at the University of Guelph-Humber, Canada. .
Download or read book Insuring Climate Change Science Fear and Value in Reinsurance Markets written by Leigh Taylor Johnson and published by . This book was released on 2011 with total page 256 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The planet's changing climatology poses epistemological and practical problems for insurance institutions underwriting weather or property risks: models based on meticulously calculated empirical event frequencies will not project risk in a changing climate system. Seeking to explain the unprecedented scale of recent insured losses, media pieces regularly articulate a narrative that links climate change to an immanently insecure future. This logic has prompted some scholars to place climate change in a new category of risks generated by industrial society that are fundamentally incalculable and uninsurable. This dissertation challenges the epistemological assumptions and empirical validity of the "uninsurability hypothesis" using the case study of (re)insurance and catastrophe modeling for North Atlantic tropical cyclones. In so doing, it turns a critical eye on the depoliticized discourse of climate change emergency. The research analyzes the development of insurance institutions and definitions of climate change risk over time, applying the theory that risks are reconstructed phenomenon of multiple contingency which always embody contested classificatory and causal stories. Research included over forty extended interviews with academic, regulatory, and private sector employees; observation at thirteen industry, academic, and regulatory conferences; and qualitative and quantitative analysis of corporate and regulatory documents and datasets. The findings trace new constellations of science, value, and fear that are emerging within the (re)insurance industry as it attempts to assess and manage climate risks and secure new paths to accumulation. Three major themes emerge. First, the dynamics of climate change are being integrated into circuits of insurance and financial capital. The perception of climate risk may buoy the (re)industry's business prospects in the short term by reproducing uncertainty and allowing firms to exclude certain risks from all-perils coverage and repackage them into new products. Climate risks may be incorporated into the central contradictory dynamic of the catastrophe reinsurance market, which requires the continual recurrence of catastrophic losses and devaluation in order to sustain pricing and accumulation in the long term. Meanwhile, investment capital is accessing new risk premiums from the insurance sector through catastrophe bonds, the market for which demonstrates a strategic and selective attempt to capture "returns on place" by finance capital, rather than an "escape" from uninsurable places on the part of (re)insurers. Second, within both the industry and scientific community, the question of how climate change is influencing catastrophic losses or will do so in the future is far from settled, despite its representation as a closed "matter of fact". Furthermore, most (re)insurers do not currently account for climate change in their daily underwriting and pricing, and often cite the possibility of compensating for climate effects through future annual adjustments to prices and policies. This apparent contradiction between discourse and practice is the result of a complex set of institutional, political, and economic factors rather than a systematic attempt to deceive the public or exaggerate risks. Third, privatized economies of science - and particularly probabilistic catastrophe models - are central tools for climate risk management through (re)insurance markets. The expertise of PhD-credentialed scientists is increasingly used in industry contexts to publicize climate change risks, legitimate moves towards five-year forward-looking catastrophe models, and to commodify climate risks into financial exposures and assets. These findings draw our attention the (re)insurance industry's dependence on the perpetual multiplication of fear and value via technocientific risk identification, and suggest the profound limitations of attempts to manage climate risks and anxieties through market mechanisms.
Download or read book All Hell Breaking Loose written by Michael T. Klare and published by Metropolitan Books. This book was released on 2019-11-12 with total page 352 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: All Hell Breaking Loose is an eye-opening examination of climate change from the perspective of the U.S. military. The Pentagon, unsentimental and politically conservative, might not seem likely to be worried about climate change—still linked, for many people, with polar bears and coral reefs. Yet of all the major institutions in American society, none take climate change as seriously as the U.S. military. Both as participants in climate-triggered conflicts abroad, and as first responders to hurricanes and other disasters on American soil, the armed services are already confronting the impacts of global warming. The military now regards climate change as one of the top threats to American national security—and is busy developing strategies to cope with it. Drawing on previously obscure reports and government documents, renowned security expert Michael Klare shows that the U.S. military sees the climate threat as imperiling the country on several fronts at once. Droughts and food shortages are stoking conflicts in ethnically divided nations, with “climate refugees” producing worldwide havoc. Pandemics and other humanitarian disasters will increasingly require extensive military involvement. The melting Arctic is creating new seaways to defend. And rising seas threaten American cities and military bases themselves. While others still debate the causes of global warming, the Pentagon is intensely focused on its effects. Its response makes it clear that where it counts, the immense impact of climate change is not in doubt.
Download or read book Climate of the Middle written by Arjen Siegmann and published by Springer Nature. This book was released on 2022-01-04 with total page 71 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This Open Access book presents a multidisciplinary perspective to increase our understanding of climate policies that are rooted in the natural moral inclinations of people, families and firms. Which policies prevent a widening gap between higher and lower educated people? Which policy instruments are there, and how could they be used? What is the role of free entrepreneurship? In this book, academics from different fields have brought together their knowledge and expertise to reflect on the following three questions: How are the polarised positions on climate change of different groups related to their moral outlook, world view, tradition, cultural norms and values? What is a good distribution of responsibilities between firms, households and the government relating to climate change? What are possible avenues where the climate policies are a natural extension of moral inclinations of families and firms, such as the stewardship for the natural environment and the climate? This book will be of interest to policy and decision-makers, students of social and behavioural sciences, and those interested climate change policies and how this effects our lives
Download or read book The Ocean and Cryosphere in a Changing Climate written by Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2022-04-30 with total page 755 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) is the leading international body for assessing the science related to climate change. It provides policymakers with regular assessments of the scientific basis of human-induced climate change, its impacts and future risks, and options for adaptation and mitigation. This IPCC Special Report on the Ocean and Cryosphere in a Changing Climate is the most comprehensive and up-to-date assessment of the observed and projected changes to the ocean and cryosphere and their associated impacts and risks, with a focus on resilience, risk management response options, and adaptation measures, considering both their potential and limitations. It brings together knowledge on physical and biogeochemical changes, the interplay with ecosystem changes, and the implications for human communities. It serves policymakers, decision makers, stakeholders, and all interested parties with unbiased, up-to-date, policy-relevant information. This title is also available as Open Access on Cambridge Core.
Download or read book Rethinking Urban Risk and Resettlement in the Global South written by Garima Jain and published by . This book was released on 2021-06-10 with total page 336 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A study on urban risk and resettlement programs in the Global South in the era of climate change. Environmental changes impact everyone, but the burden is especially heavy upon the lives and livelihoods of the urban poor and those living in informal settlements. In an effort to reduce urban residents' exposure to climate change and natural disasters, resettlement programs are becoming widespread across the Global South. Yet, while resettlement may reduce a region's future climate-related disaster risk, it can also often increase poverty and vulnerability. This volume collates the findings from a research project that examined urban areas across the globe, including case studies from India, Uganda, Peru, Colombia, Mexico, Cambodia, and the Philippines. The book offers a unique approach to resettlement, providing an opportunity for urban planners to re-think how disaster risk management can better address the accumulation of urban risks in the era of climate change.
Download or read book The Precipice written by Toby Ord and published by Hachette Books. This book was released on 2020-03-24 with total page 480 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This urgent and eye-opening book makes the case that protecting humanity's future is the central challenge of our time. If all goes well, human history is just beginning. Our species could survive for billions of years - enough time to end disease, poverty, and injustice, and to flourish in ways unimaginable today. But this vast future is at risk. With the advent of nuclear weapons, humanity entered a new age, where we face existential catastrophes - those from which we could never come back. Since then, these dangers have only multiplied, from climate change to engineered pathogens and artificial intelligence. If we do not act fast to reach a place of safety, it will soon be too late. Drawing on over a decade of research, The Precipice explores the cutting-edge science behind the risks we face. It puts them in the context of the greater story of humanity: showing how ending these risks is among the most pressing moral issues of our time. And it points the way forward, to the actions and strategies that can safeguard humanity. An Oxford philosopher committed to putting ideas into action, Toby Ord has advised the US National Intelligence Council, the UK Prime Minister's Office, and the World Bank on the biggest questions facing humanity. In The Precipice, he offers a startling reassessment of human history, the future we are failing to protect, and the steps we must take to ensure that our generation is not the last. "A book that seems made for the present moment." —New Yorker
Download or read book Stakeholder Capitalism written by Klaus Schwab and published by John Wiley & Sons. This book was released on 2021-01-27 with total page 311 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Reimagining our global economy so it becomes more sustainable and prosperous for all Our global economic system is broken. But we can replace the current picture of global upheaval, unsustainability, and uncertainty with one of an economy that works for all people, and the planet. First, we must eliminate rising income inequality within societies where productivity and wage growth has slowed. Second, we must reduce the dampening effect of monopoly market power wielded by large corporations on innovation and productivity gains. And finally, the short-sighted exploitation of natural resources that is corroding the environment and affecting the lives of many for the worse must end. The debate over the causes of the broken economy—laissez-faire government, poorly managed globalization, the rise of technology in favor of the few, or yet another reason—is wide open. Stakeholder Capitalism: A Global Economy that Works for Progress, People and Planet argues convincingly that if we don't start with recognizing the true shape of our problems, our current system will continue to fail us. To help us see our challenges more clearly, Schwab—the Founder and Executive Chairman of the World Economic Forum—looks for the real causes of our system's shortcomings, and for solutions in best practices from around the world in places as diverse as China, Denmark, Ethiopia, Germany, Indonesia, New Zealand, and Singapore. And in doing so, Schwab finds emerging examples of new ways of doing things that provide grounds for hope, including: Individual agency: how countries and policies can make a difference against large external forces A clearly defined social contract: agreement on shared values and goals allows government, business, and individuals to produce the most optimal outcomes Planning for future generations: short-sighted presentism harms our shared future, and that of those yet to be born Better measures of economic success: move beyond a myopic focus on GDP to more complete, human-scaled measures of societal flourishing By accurately describing our real situation, Stakeholder Capitalism is able to pinpoint achievable ways to deal with our problems. Chapter by chapter, Professor Schwab shows us that there are ways for everyone at all levels of society to reshape the broken pieces of the global economy and—country by country, company by company, and citizen by citizen—glue them back together in a way that benefits us all.
Download or read book Mad Cows and Mother s Milk Second Edition written by William Leiss and published by McGill-Queen's Press - MQUP. This book was released on 2004 with total page 478 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The first case study deals with the mad cow fiasco of 1996, one of the most expensive and tragic examples of poor risk management in the last twenty-five years. For ten years the British government failed to acknowledge the possibility of a link between mad cow disease and Creuzfeldt-Jakob disease, the human equivalent, until increased scientific evidence and public pressure forced them to take action, resulting in the slaughter of more than one million cattle. The second study looks at what is commonly known as hamburger disease, caused by a virulent form of the E. coli bacterium, which has struck thousands and killed over thirty people in the last few years. Despite its widespread effects, it is unclear whether scientific knowledge on preventing the disease is reaching the public. Other case studies include the use of a genetically engineered hormone to increase milk production in cows, health risks associated with silicone breast implants, public controversies surrounding dioxins and PCBs, and the introduction of agricultural biotechnology. These case studies show that institutions routinely fail to communicate the scientific basis of various high-profile risks. These failures to inform the public make it difficult for governments, industry, and society to manage risk controversies sensibly and often result in massive costs. With its detailed analyses of specific risk management controversies, Mad Cows and Mother's Milk will help us avoid future mistakes.
