Book description
Writing about climate change often falls into one of two opposite traps
- predicting either calamity or apathy - both of which this book avoids.
This is not a story of gloom and doom, of inevitable climate
catastrophe. On the contrary, this book spells out, in more detail than
usual, what can and should be done to avert the real risks of disaster.
Nor is it one of complacent congratulation for "win-win"
initiatives, cautiously incremental steps, and "green"
consumer choices. Climate Protection and Development summons us to an
endeavour worthy of the resources and ingenuity of the twenty-first
century - towards bold initiatives with big costs, and much bigger
benefits. This book explores the interconnected issues of climate and
development, laying the groundwork for just such a new deal. It presents
a challenging agenda, and highlights the needs and perspectives of
developing countries which may be unfamiliar or uncomfortable to readers
in high-income countries. The unfortunate truth is that any large
country, or group of mid-sized countries, can veto any global climate
solution by refusing to participate, so a solution will only work if it
works for everyone. Frank Ackerman is Director of the Climate
Economics Group of the US Center of the Stockholm Environmental
Institute, and Senior Research Fellow at the Global Development and
Environment Institute based at Tufts University, USA. Richard
Kozul-Wright is Chief of the Unit on Economic Cooperation and
Integration among Developing Countries of UNCTAD, Geneva, and former
Chief of the Development Strategy and Policy Analysis Branch of the
United Nations in New York, USA. Rob Vos is the Director of the
Development Policy and Analysis Division (DPAD) of the United Nations,
New York, and Affiliated Professor of Finance and Development, Erasmus
University, The Netherlands.
