Three decades of federal “gridlock” in the US on reducing carbon emissions will cause $1 trillion in damage to the global economy, a report by the Institute of International and European Affairs (IIEA) has estimated. Report authors Joseph Curtin and Max Münchmeyer define the gap between emissions and commitments made since 1992 as “unnecessary emissions”. This shortfall and quantification of damages “risks opening a Pandora’s box of moral, legal and political conundrums”, Mr Curtin said. Legal liability“A country’s historical contribution to global emissions has commonly been used as indicators of ‘responsibility’ for climate change,” Mr Curtin said. The IIEA report also considers whether moral responsibility can be translated into legal liability, and if so, against whom.

Source: The Irish Times April 02, 2019 05:00 UTC