Losing and Gaining Freedom Due to Climate Change

Evert Van de Vliert and Mohsen Joshanloo

Chapter 4 in Climate and Development, 2021, pp 91-114 from World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd.

Abstract: Global cooling and global warming are reset buttons for all life on Earth. No continent, no country, no creature is immune. To better understand these reset buttons, scholars need to divert their concentration away from average annual temperatures toward winter and summer deviations from livable temperatures. To this end, we introduce and apply a novel thermometer for measuring local livability. The measured climatic demands and stresses of cold and heat are next interpreted as being more detrimentally threatening for the poor, but more beneficially challenging for the rich, gradually resulting in lower freedom for the poor, but higher freedom for the rich. This climato-economic theory of freedom has been empirically supported for freedom from want, freedom from fear, freedom of expression and participation, freedom from discrimination, freedom to realize one’s human potential, and free and effective functioning. Poor people tend to lose freedom under climatic threats, whereas rich people tend to gain freedom under climatic challenges. The results allow country-level forecasts of freedom by around the year 2100 on the basis of climato-economic livability under current projections of global warming and economic development.

Keywords: Climate Change; Global Warming; Sustainable Development; Development; Economic Growth; Adaptation; Paris Agreement; Social Conflict; Extreme Events; Integrated Assessment Model; Climate-Economic Liveability; Sustainable Development Goals; Social Welfare Functions; Intergenerational Transfers; Water Scarcity; Natural Resources; Migration; Climate-Migration Relationship; MENA Region; Renewable Energy; ICT; Energy Efficiency; Carbon Dioxide Removal; Net Negative Emissions; Co-Benefits; Afforestation; Reforestation; Mangroves; Developing Countries; Blue Carbon Projects; Ecosystems; Blockchain Technology; Illegal Logging; Mining Industries; Power Plants; Environmental Economics; Resource Economics; Climate Change Economics; Climate Policy; Mitigation (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q5 Q54 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
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