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46 I.Wallimann-Helmeret al.
Thechallengesassociatedwith identifying the legitimateagents topaycompen-
sation and the legitimate claimants of compensation narrow down the number of
potential recipients of compensatory payments. This number decreases evenmore
whenconsidering theconceptual challenge that strictly speakingcompensationcan
only be demanded for anthropogenically inducedL&Dbut not for natural climate
variability (Huggelet al. 2016;Wallimann-Helmer2015).Naturaldisasterswithout
anyhumancausearetragicandindividualsbeingthreatenedneedtobeassisted.How-
ever,thisrequirementofassistancecanonlybejustifiedonhumanitariangroundsand
for reasons of distributive justice. They cannot be addressed by appeal to compen-
satory justice.This iswhy, inpractice, compensatoryclaims for somespecific (risk
of) L&Ddemand the detection of anthropogenic cascades demonstratingwhy this
L&Dcanbeattributedtoanthropogenicclimatechange(Huggeletal.2013).Hence,
theworry for the advocate of compensatory justice is that somevictimsof climate
L&Dmightnotbeharmed inanormatively relevant sense,wherebyconsiderations
ofcompensationbecomeunsuitable.Elaboratingonthesedifficultiesbyconsidering
individuals as duty bearers and claimants, it becomes possible thatmany emitters
andlegitimateclaimantsarenot identifiedeitherasdutybearersorvictims.Emitters
only emittingwithin the limits of their fair shares cannot be identified as liable for
compensation. Similarly, those individuals notwrongfully harmed, are not entitled
to any compensatory payments. These reasons can be taken to be decisive against
addressingL&Din termsof compensatory justice.However, considering theCoPP
both thesechallengesmustbequalified.
AccordingtotheassessmentsoftheIPCCandtheagreementsundertheUNFCCC
countries, towitcommunities,candefinitivelybeidentifiedaswrongfulemittersnot
beinglegitimatelyexcusedbyignorance(MeyerandSanklecha2017).Atleastsome
agentsof industrialisedcountryparties (its citizens, companiesor thecountriesasa
whole)definitivelyexceed their fair sharesof emissions (Shue2017).Furthermore,
withthepublicationofthefirstIPCCreportitbecomesdifficulttoargueforexcusable
ignorance from1990 onwards. This suggestsways of how someof the challenges
abovecanbemet.However, even though industrialised countries andat least some
of their companies canpotentiallybe identifiedasdutybearers, theCoPPstill only
succeeds in justifying some compensation for L&D.As shown above, it can only
justify themforsomeL&Dfromclimatechangebutnotforall sinceitonlywarrants
paymentsforanthropogenicclimateL&DbutnotforL&Dcausedbynaturalclimate
variability.Tobeclear, thisisnotnecessarilyabadthing.Manydevelopingcountries
facingclimateL&Dwouldalreadybemuchhelpedif theyreceivedsomeincontrast
to no assistance. In addition, a compensatory approach can be said to be simple
andmore strongly in line with international lawwhereas distributive approaches
arerelativelyuntested in international fora.For instance,consideringenvironmental
issues in terms of reparations for injury has been dominant in legal history (the
influentialTrail Smelter case is based on “no harm” considerations, see Simlinger
andMayer2018forcomplexities inapplyinginternationalenvironmental lawtothis
issue).
Despite these pragmatic advantages, however, from an ethical point of view it
seems highly problematic to only support those facing L&D in coping with part
Loss and Damage from Climate Change
Concepts, Methods and Policy Options
- Title
- Loss and Damage from Climate Change
- Subtitle
- Concepts, Methods and Policy Options
- Authors
- Reinhard Mechler
- Laurens M. Bouwer
- Thomas Schinko
- Swenja Surminski
- JoAnne Linnerooth-Bayer
- Publisher
- Springer Open
- Date
- 2019
- Language
- English
- License
- CC BY 4.0
- ISBN
- 978-3-319-72026-5
- Size
- 16.0 x 24.0 cm
- Pages
- 580
- Keywords
- Environment, Climate change, Environmental law, Environmental policy, Risk management
- Categories
- International
- Naturwissenschaften Umwelt und Klima