Ezra's Bookshelf

Climate Shock

by Gernot Wagner and Martin L. Weitzman · 268 pages · ~5 hrs

Climate & EnvironmentEconomics

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Climate Shock argues that climate change should be understood primarily as a risk management problem rather than a matter of predicting specific outcomes. Gernot Wagner, an economist at Columbia, and the late Martin Weitzman, a Harvard economist whose work on fat-tailed climate risk was foundational, examine why we should take climate action even if we're uncertain about exactly what will happen. Their key insight: the most important reason to act isn't the most likely climate scenario but the possibility of catastrophic outcomes. If there's even a 10 percent chance that unchecked emissions could trigger catastrophe, that probability alone justifies major intervention—just as we buy insurance against unlikely but devastating house fires. Wagner and Weitzman criticize economic models that focus on expected outcomes while ignoring the long tail of extreme possibilities. They also examine the temptation of geoengineering—deliberate intervention in climate systems—arguing that its low cost and unilateral nature could lead to reckless deployment. For readers seeking an economically rigorous but accessible case for climate action, this slim book provides compelling analysis that avoids both complacency and despair.

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