Haritz, Miriam --- "Liability with and Liability from the Precautionary Principle in Climate Change Cases" [2011] ELECD 260; in Faure, Michael; Peeters, Marjan (eds), "Climate Change Liability" (Edward Elgar Publishing, 2011)

Book Title: Climate Change Liability

Editor(s): Faure, Michael; Peeters, Marjan

Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing

ISBN (hard cover): 9781849802864

Section: Chapter 2

Section Title: Liability with and Liability from the Precautionary Principle in Climate Change Cases

Author(s): Haritz, Miriam

Number of pages: 32

Extract:

2. Liability with and liability from the
precautionary principle in climate
change cases1
Miriam Haritz

Is it appropriate to use the (precautionary) principle to answer the question, not
`What should we do tomorrow' but `What should you have done yesterday?'
and, depending on the answer, impose liability?2



1. SCIENTIFIC UNCERTAINTY IN CLIMATE
CHANGE

Over the past decade, an intensification of weather-related natural catas-
trophes has been experienced all over the world. Flooding and heat waves
struck almost every continent, and the names of hurricanes like Katrina,
Wilma, Rita and Stan, which hit with more frequency and increased
destructive force North and Central America and the Caribbean, received
wide media attention.3 Insurance statistics show that there has indeed been
an increase in the amount of damage resulting from that type of natural
catastrophe, be it insured or uninsured.4 Increasingly, these incidents are
being attributed to the consequences of global warming next to its long-
term effects on climatic patterns.5
The aim of this chapter consists of taking into account these perceived
and predicted effects to the extent relevant to a climate change liability
claim. As will be explained, many difficulties arise when trying to define
the exact range of such a claim in various ways. Scientific uncertainties
that surround climate change science reflect onto legal uncertainties when
trying to adjudicate the consequence of climate change. It is the context of
such uncertainties that this chapter then analyses the possible contribution
of the precautionary principle.
Whilst in ...