In a new twist on the 'polluter pays' principle of environmental protection, former NASA climate scientist James Hansen has suggested that if we are to seriously tackle the problem of climate change, we should sue the polluters responsible for it.
By suing major polluters — around 100 companies have contributed more than 70 percent of the world's greenhouse gases in the past three decades — the funds generated could be used to help with mitigation efforts.
Hansen's message is directed at world leaders who are currently meeting in Bonn, Germany, to plan a path for meeting the Paris Agreement, which came into force last November and aims to strengthen the global response to the threat of climate change by confining global temperature increases to below 2 degrees Celsius by the end of this century.
Hansen argues that an enormous amount of money is urgently required to achieve the dramatic reductions in emissions necessary to stablise the climate, and for countries, particularly developing countries, to cope with the impacts from climate change.
This money, he believes, should come from companies that have profited from the burning of fossil fuels that have greatly contributed to a warming planet.
To find out more go to https://news.nationalgeographic.com/2017/11/james-hansen-fight-climate-change-sue-pollutors-cop23/.
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