Climate Policy in the Age of Trump

authored by

Mathias Frisch

Abstract

The Trump administration is in the process of undoing what were the two central planks of President Obama’s climate policy: First, Trump has called for a review of how the social cost of carbon is calculated in used in analyses of regulatory rule making and, second, Trump has announced that the United States is withdrawing from the Paris Agreement. In this paper I examine some of the conservative critics’ objections to the first plank: calculations of the social cost of carbon in climate cost benefit analyses. I argue that while some of these criticisms are justified, the criticisms end up strengthening arguments for the importance of the second plank: the urgent need for an ambitious climate policy, in accord with the Paris Agreement, as precaution against exposing others to the risk of catastrophic harms.

Organisation(s)

Institute of Philosophy

Type

Article

Journal

Kennedy Institute of Ethics Journal

Volume

27

Pages

E87-E106

ISSN

1054-6863

Publication date

06.2017

Publication status

Published

Peer reviewed

Yes

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Health(social science), Health Policy, Issues, ethics and legal aspects, History and Philosophy of Science

Sustainable Development Goals

SDG 13 - Climate Action, SDG 3 - Good Health and Well-being

Electronic version(s)

https://doi.org/10.1353/ken.2017.0027 (Access: Closed)