Klaus Hasselmann - Reframing the Problem of Climate Change: From Zero Sum Game to Win-Win Solutions

This book provides an evaluation of the science and policy debates on climate change and offers a reframing of the challenges they pose, as understood by key international experts and players in the field. It also gives an important and original perspective on interpreting climate action and provides compelling evidence of the weakness of arguments that frame climate policy as a win-or-lose situation.

At the same time, the book goes beyond providing yet another description of climate change trends and policy processes. Its goal is to make available, in a series of in-depth reflections and insights by key international figures representing science, business, finance and civil society, what is really needed to link knowledge to action. Different contributions convincingly show that it is time and possible to reframe the climate debate in a completely new light, perhaps as a system transformative attractor for new green growth, sustainable development and technological innovation.

Reframing the Problem of Climate Change reflects a deep belief that dealing with climate change does not have to be a zero sum game, with winners and losers. The contributors argue that our societies can learn to respond to the challenge it presents and avoid both human suffering and large scale destruction of ecosystems; and that this does not necessarily require economic sacrifice. Therefore, it is vital reading for students, academics and policy-makers involved in the debate surrounding climate change.

Carlo C. Jaeger is head of the research domain on transdisciplinary concepts and methods of the Potsdam Institute of Climate Impact Research, Germany.

Klaus Hasselmann is founding director of the Max Planck Institute of Meteorology, Germany.

Gerd Leipold is a former director of Greenpeace International.

Diana Mangalagiu teaches at Reims Management School, France and is Associate Professor at the Smith School of Enterprise and Environment, University of Oxford, UK.

J. David Tbara is a senior researcher at the Institute of Environmental Sciences and Technology of the Autonomous University of Barcelona, Spain.

James Cameron is a pre-eminent expert in developing policy responses to climate change. As Founder and Vice Chairman of Climate Change Capital, he is responsible for strategic and sector development and represents the firm at the highest levels of business and government. He advises organizations on critical environmental and business issues, as a member of the Prime Ministers Business Advisory Group, GEs Ecomagination Advisory Board and Pepsico UKs Advisory Board. He is Chairman of the World Economic Forums Agenda Council on Climate Change and of China Dialogue; a Trustee of both the UK Green Building Council and the Carbon Disclosure Project; a member of the Oxfam Development Board and the Smith Schools Development Board. A lawyer by training at Oxford University, he spent much of his legal career working on issues related to environment and development. Before joining Climate Change Capital, he was Counsel to Baker & McKenzie, and both founded and led their Climate Change Practice. He assisted in negotiating the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change and the Kyoto Protocol as an adviser to the Alliance of Small Island States, and took on several leading cases in environmental law as a barrister. He has held academic positions at Cambridge, London, Bruges and Sydney and is currently affiliated with the Yale Centre for Environmental Law and Policy.

Brindusa Fidanza is Associate Director, Deputy Head of Climate Change Initiatives at the World Economic Forum where she engages business, experts and NGOs on project and programmatic approaches to catalysing private capital into low-carbon infrastructure. She is also a contributor to the World Economic Forums Sustainable Competitiveness work. Recently, she has led the Critical Mass initiative for scaling up low-carbon infrastructure financing for developing countries, a partnership of the World Economic Forum with the United Nations Foundation and the International Finance Corporation, engaging banks, institutional investors and development finance institutions. She facilitated work of the Task Force on Low-Carbon Prosperity, which reported to the UK G20 presidency in 2009 on building blocks of the low-carbon economy. Previously she worked in the private sector corporate affairs for JT International in Romania and Switzerland as well as in the public sector, with the Centre for Applied Studies in International Negotiations (CASIN), Switzerland and in the IFRC and the UN Economic Commission for Europe. Brindusa is a 2011 graduate of the World Economic Forum Global Leadership programme, in partnership with Columbia University, LSE, INSEAD and Wharton Business School. She has a Master in Global Ecology and Sustainable Development and a Master in International Relations from the Graduate Institute in Geneva.