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Legal implications of Climate Modeling

305 views · Published 23 April 2010 · 59:26 · Indexed 1 November 2026

Channel: CITRIS and the Banatao Institute · 2010 · Science & Technology

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Legal implications of Climate Modeling
Dan Farber [UC Berkeley] 

 

Abstract:
This presentation discusses the uses and limitations of these models for courts and agencies. Climate scientists have created a unique institutional system for assessing and improving models, going well beyond the usual system of peer review. Consequently, their conclusions should be entitled to considerable credence by courts and agencies.  In particular, modeling results should be admissible evidence in court.

There is considerable residual uncertainty about climate change impacts that cannot be fully quantified. The uncertainties on the whole make climate change a more serious problem rather than providing a source of comfort. The policy process should be designed with this uncertainty in mind. For instance, rather than focusing on a single cost-benefit analysis for proposed regulatory actions or establishing a point-value estimate for the social cost of carbon, the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), which oversees federal regulatory policy, might do better to require the development of a range of standardized scenarios for agencies to use.

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